Ransom
by Suck it Trebeck
Summary: Starfire is taken captive by Slade, and in exchange for her safe return he only wants one thing. Robin. Will the Boy Wonder give himself to the one-eyed madman, or risk losing the love of his life? Violence and some language. Traces of Beast Boy/Raven.
1. The Fatal Mistake

Ransom

I don't own teen titans in any shape or form.

This is my first Fan fiction story and Reviews would be much appreciated.

Criticism is much appreciated as well but please, keep it constructive.

Chapter 1.

Slade was back.

After two years of plotting, after two years of absence from Jump City, The Teen Titans arch-nemesis was standing in his lair, hands behind his back, with the familiar gears turning and grinding in the background. He was viewing a large monitor. On was the screen was video footage of the Teen Titans victory parade in Tokyo. The crowds and colors of Japan's celebration flashed before his eyes, but Slade was hardly interested in the pitiful accomplishments of the Teen Titans. No, he had other motives for watching the Titans bask in their glory. Slade studied the screen for a few seconds until his eyes fell upon what he was looking for. An evil and malicious smile formed underneath his mask. He froze the picture and zoomed in on Robin and Starfire holding hands and waving to the immense crowd.

" Well Robin, just when I was beginning to think that you had run out of weaknesses for me to exploit, you show your biggest one to the **entire **world."

His eyes narrowed with determination and his hands clenched into fists.

"And this time I will beat the Titans, and you and your pitiful little friends will be begging for my mercy."

Author's note:

I am going back over the earlier chapters of the story because as I read them, I realized they weren't very well written. Plus there are numerous grammatical mistakes and other such details. So here is the revised version. Enjoy.


	2. Lost In Her Eyes

The Titans were finally getting used to life back at the tower. Two years spent abroad fighting a brain, monkey, and then ink monsters was quite different that staying in Jump City. Cyborg was updating the home stereo and surround sound. Being away from home so long meant that the usually tech savvy Tower was know a couple years out of date, much to Cyborg's, dismay, and he had been spending the last few weeks making sure every last piece of electronic equipment in the Tower was state of the art. Raven was sitting on the sofa reading a book and sipping from a mug of herbal tea. Beast Boy was sitting next to her with a look on his face that could only be described as, "Mesmerized" Starfire has just returned from one of her frequent trips to "the Mall of Shopping" and was unsuccessfully trying to show Raven her new outfits. Robin was being his usual "always in crime fighting mode" self and was scanning the Titans brand-new (thank you Cyborg) supercomputer for any signs of criminal activity. The effectiveness of his searching was not as good at it used to be however because for every 10 seconds spent looking at the screen of the computer, thirty seconds were spent watching Starfire's every move.

After an especially long look while Starfire showed off her brand new "Suit specifically designed for the use of swimming." was interrupted by Cyborg's voice saying to him,

"Robin, Your dating Starfire now! Stop staring at her like a stalker and go over there and be her boyfriend!!"

This remark was met with blushes from Robin and Starfire, and stifled giggles from Beast Boy. Even Raven showed the smallest smirk from behind her book.

" Cyborg, how is your new training program coming?" asked Robin in order to change the subject as quickly as possible.

Cyborg just shook his head and laughed a little bit to himself, then turned back to work.

Robin was praying for something to break the awkwardness that was now very present within the tower when he caught Starfire's gaze and they looked into each other's eyes. Immediately all thought was then removed from his mind as he stared into her beautiful green eyes. As he look into her eyes he was reminded of just how much he really did love her, and how little he did too show it. So that was it, tonight he was going to invite her out to a glamorous diner and dancing at the nicest place in town. He was so deep in his thoughts of a perfect evening for the two of them that he didn't even notice when the alarms started blaring, warning of an attack on the city.

He was brought back to earth by Raven tapping his shoulder and saying, "As nice as it would for all of us to get into a staring contest we do have a city to save."

Robin then snapped back to reality and started running too his motorcycle shouting, "Titans Go!" He was silently fuming at himself for losing concentration. But there was a small part in the back of his mind that still pictured those two beautiful green eyes and the perfect evening he had envisioned for the two of them. He held onto that memory and put it in an unused part of his mind, saving it for later. Then he was all business filling his team in on the present situation.

"There was a break out at the prison, Plasmus is free and it seems that Slade's robots were the ones who did the rescuing."

"Great" said Beast Boy as he ran next to Robin. "Just when I was worried that Slade had left and started terrorizing someone else he comes back just to check that were not too bored."

"Stay focused!" Barked Robin, "If we expect to take down both Plasmus **and **Slade's Robots we need to work as a team!"

"Calm down dude!" replied Beast Boy, a little hurt that Robin snapped at him. "Everything is going to go just fine."

"I hope your right." Thought Robin as he hopped on the R-cycle. There was just something about Slade being back that made him very nervous. Not just for himself, but for the other Titans as well.


	3. The Proposal

The Titans arrived at the prison to find 50 robots escorting a fully awakened Plasmus out of the jail.

"Titans Go!" and the five leapt into action.

Robin, Starfire and Raven took the robots while Beast Boy and Cyborg fought Plasmus.

Robin leapt from robot to robot cutting them down with his bo staff while Starfire blasted away with her star bolts. Raven used her black energy to drop rubble, and cut the robots to pieces, and in no time the three have dispatched with Slade's mechanized minions.

Plasmus however was proving to be much more difficult. Beast boy leapt at the sludge monster in the form of a tiger with claws fully extended only to be knocked down by a spray of toxic goo. Cyborg takes aim with his sonic cannon only to have it plugged up by another volley of the disgusting goop.

"Man why do people keep waking this guy up?" yelled the frustrated hero as he tried desperately to get the sludge off his arm without actually touching the stuff.

Once he succeeded in getting all the revolting goo off his arm, Starfire picked up Cyborg under the arms and flew him high over Plasmus, while dodging the increasingly large amounts of Plasmus being thrown at her. Once she is directly over Plasmus Cyborg drops a small charge on the head of the Monster. The charge detonated and Plasmus disappeared, leaving only his sleeping form behind.

"New concussion charge!" Cyborg smiled proudly upon hitting the ground, "Made especially for our slimy friend here."

"You could have used that before I got covered in Plasmus!"

Well BB I would have but we all like seeing you get your butt kicked!" said Cyborg with a smile on his face.

Beast Boy shuffled off muttering about his hair and Starfire turned to Robin "Although I am most pleased with our victory over the Robots and the Goo did it not seem a little easy? Most of the time Slade provides us with a greater challenge does he not?"

"She's right" said Robin, "For Slade this seems kind of….tame." Immediately after Robin finished his statement a small blue missile swooped into the courtyard, made a big, curving loop, and settled on the ground in the middle of the group.

"What the heck is tha-?" Beast Boy's question was cut off by a blinding flash of light, and then darkness as the young heroes' slipped into unconsciousness.

When they woke up they found themselves in a dust cloud caused by the explosion. "Is everyone okay!" yelled Robin through the dust in the air.

"Beast Boy!" "Yeah dude I'm fine"

"Cyborg!" "My circuits might be crossed, but I should be alright for now."

"Raven!" "Well... I just got knocked out by a bomb, but besides that I'm great."

"Starfire!"? ... No reply.

"Starfire!" Again silence. The dust started to settle and Robins could make out the forms of three of his fellow heroes.

**"STARFIRE!"** Yelled Robin at the top of his voice.

Cyborg ran up to Robin and grabbed him by the arms. "**Calm Down man! She's not here!**"

"**How can I calm down if Starfire is missing?**" yelled Robin, struggling to release himself from Cyborg's grip.

"**ROBIN!**" Snapped Raven and they all turned to her. "Starfire may be gone but yelling won't bring her back." Raven's logic had a slight calming effect on Robin and he stopped fighting Cyborg. Raven continued, "Now lets look around for anything that might give us a clue to where she went."

"Fine." Is all Robin could manage to say before he started walking around looking for anything that could help him find Starfire.

After about half a minute of searching Raven walked up to Robin and handed him a small audio recording. "You should really listen to this." Said Raven with a rare look of fear in her eyes. Robin snatched the recording from her hands and pressed play.

A deep monotone voice started to speak, "Robin, My old friend. It seems that I now have something that you hold very dear to yourself, your beloved Starfire. Now obviously you want her out of harms way, and there is only one way to do that. Now I'm going to make this simple. I am proposing an exchange, your naive alien friend... for you. Do this and I will assure you that Starfire will not be harmed."

Robin's grip tightend on the recorder, and Slade's voice continued.

"However if I am cheated; and you should know that I don't like being cheated. The Zinothium charges I have placed all over the city will explode. Deactivating them is foolish for there are far to many to get to in this short amount of time. Besides they are are fitted with proximity sensors so if any of you get close to them they will explode, and we don't want that now do we? Furthermore, if you attempt to cheat me after our transaction is complete the Zinothium solution I have put inside your lover's body will incinerate her body from the inside out. And even Tamaranians can't live through something like that."

There was a collective gasp from the ther two Titans listening.

"I will contact you in one-hour back at Titan tower to further discuss our arrangement. I look forward to speaking with you then. Oh, and one last thing Robin. Does it hurt knowing that your recklessness has lead to this happening? Does it make you angry? Because it should."

The recording ended and Robin's hands started to shake. He dropped the recording and managed to spit out one hate filled word.

"Slade."


	4. Helpless

Chapter 4.

Back at the tower the Titans were stunned. Starfire was missing and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. The four of them coped in their own separate ways. Raven meditated while Cyborg ran tests on his computer.

"Well Slade sure wasn't kidding about the Zinothium charges. My scanner is picking up over 300 scattered all over the city. Even if we could find a way past those proximity sensors we couldn't get to all of them before Slade detonates them!"

"Well how about Mas y Menos or Kid Flash?" asked Beast Boy. "Couldn't they get to all of them in time?"

"No way man." Replied Cyborg angrily, "Only Robin and I have enough experience with Zinothium to be able to deactivate those bombs! Leaving them alone is our only option until Slade contacts us."

Robin who until this point had been sitting alone on the sofa with his head in hands suddenly staood up and said in a low voice "Forget the bombs and forget asking anyone for help."

The three looked at their leader incredulously. So far he hadn't spoken since they left the prison and made the sad journey home.

"Slade has us beaten in every way and we just need to listen to what he has to say."

As if on command Slade appeard on the screen in Titans Tower, and even though he was wearing his two tone mask Robin could tell he had a smug grin on his face.

"Why hello Titans…Why so glum?" he asked mockingly.

"I don't want to play any of your stupid games Slade," replied Robin in that same low voice, "Just tell me when and where we make the switch."

"Now now Robin, insulting me hardly helps your situation. If anything it makes my finger slide just a little bit more towards that detonate button on my console….."

"**NO!**" Yelled Robin in a moment of desperation. "Please leave the city out of this. It's just between you and me."

"Fine." Said Slade, voice dripping with malice. "But as I have said so many times before it would do you some good to learn a little **patience**. Now as for the drop we can meet in the forest just outside the city. Bring your friends along if you wish. They are so useless that it wont make any difference."

Beast Boy took offense to that last comment and opened his mouth to say something to Slade, But thought better of it and closed his mouth.

"Well it seems that the little green one has finally learned to keep his mouth shut, and I thought you were a slow learner Robin."

Beast boy then leapt at the screen, not even bothering to turn into an animal form. He fell 5 feet short and made a loud "thud" as he hit the ground.

"Well... now I have left an impression on the Titans it's my time to leave." Meet me in 6 hours. And just to prove that I really do have Starfire I leave you this. Enjoy."

Slade turned the camera to show Starfire suspended in a red transparent sphere. She is floating inside with handcuffs that prevented her from using her starbolts.

As Robin stared at her, alone and scared, a solitary tear formed in the corner of his eye. He gazed into those stunning green until suddenly the overwhelming experience of helplessness washed over him. The tear ran down his cheek and his knees buckled as he watched her say the same word over and over again.

"Help."


	5. Losing Control

Chapter 5.

Slade ended the transmission and smiled to himself. "That went better than I had expected."

He turned and walked over to where Starfire is being held captive. He looked into the eyes of the alien girl and for a split second was taken off guard by their beauty. He snapped back to his usual despicable self and started to talk to Starfire.

"Robin must really be attached to you. I don't think I have ever seen him so pathetic, then again I always had I feeling that he felt strongly towards you. When he was my apprentice **you** were the only one he didn't attack. Did you ever notice that?"

His only response was a cold stare and silence from the alien teen.

"I was surprised that he was so affected by your capture. I would have expected his usual strong and serious personality but instead I got the sad weepy Robin. I would expect more from someone so like me..."

" **Robin is nothing like you!" **yelled Starfire who was so enraged her eyes had turned a dangerous glowing green.

"Not like me you say?" asked Slade in his deceivingly calm voice. "Oh my dear girl I think you will find that Robin and I are very much alike. We both are strong, determined, and love a challenge. In fact the only difference between us is that Robin seems to have a lot of luck on his side... But luck, like all good things, runs out eventually."

"That is not the only difference between you and Robin."

"Well then, by all means** please **enlighten me dear Starfire. I am sure you can think I something I haven't already." Slade replied in his most sarcastic tone.

"Robin has friends."

Slade waited a few seconds as if he was waiting for Starfire to say more, then scoffed, "Is that it? That's the mighty difference that separates the "evil and corrupt" Slade from the "good and pure" Robin? Well Starfire, I don't need the help of insignificant little sidekicks like your dear Robin does. I do better on my own." He turned around and started walking away "If that's all you have then we are done here."

"Robin can love. Something that you will never be able to understand."

Slade stopped dead in his tracks, and Starfire could tell that she has hit a nerve with Slade. So she decided to pursure it.

"You are an evil man, and nobody has ever loved you!"

Slade turned around and faced Starfire. She continued.

"And because nobody has every loved you, you can not love anyone else. You will never have the feeling of knowing you are wanted, and you will never know what it feels like to lose someone you lov-."

"**SHUT UP!**" screamed Slade at the top of his voice.

Slade, no longer monotone but livid and with no self-controlran towards Starfire and her containment sphere yelling **"SHUT UP YOU STUPID ALIEN WHORE!**" He deactivated the sphere and Starfire dropped to the ground unexpectedly. Before she had a chance to revover Slade reached her and with a mighty punch sent her flying across the room. He pinned her against a wall and continued to beat her mercilessly.

"**YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE DATING ROBIN YOU KNOW TRUE LOVE?**" Screamed Slade still beating Starfire.

"**YOU DO NOT KNOW THE PAIN I WENT THROUGH!**"

And with one final Strike he knocked Starfire unconscious and he slowly began to regain control taking deep, heaving breaths.

After about a minute he dusted off his uniform and leaned over her. Breathing deeply but under control of both his actions and words, he leant in very close to her ear and whispers

"At least, not yet."


	6. The Genesis

Chapter 6.

Twenty years ago

A tall muscular man of about 25 years awoke from a deep dreamless sleep. He got out of bed and slowly walked towards the bathroom of his house, which was located just outside of Washington D.C. He looks at his crew cut jet-black in the mirror and silently chuckles to himself. "I'm the only person I know who never has bed-head. But can you even get bed-head with a crew cut?"

After shaving and showering he got dressed in black slacks and a white button up shirt. He went over to his still sleeping wife and kissed her on the forehead. He moved over to his son's room just down the hall and silently snuck in. He was surprised to find his child already awake.

"Good-bye Joe. Daddy is going to miss you." He said affectionately as he gave his son a hug.

"Where is Daddy going?" asked Joe.

"It's a secret, but when I get back things are going to be better." He squeezed his son softly on the shoulder and then left the room with one final wave back to his son.

He grabbed his keys and got into his black sub-compact. He drove into central Washington D.C with no stops along the way. He was early enough that he has beaten the rush hour traffic. He pulled up to a steel gate and put his I.D card underneath a scanner. It took a few seconds but the gates swung open and he reached the main complex. He pulled his car up front and parked it. He got out and locked it while clipping his I.D to his shirt. He strode into the main building and approached the front desk. While it was still early in the morning there was much activity within the building. A security guard walked over to the man and asked him "What is your business here sir?"

"I have the six o'clock appointment with Dr. Cahill." The man replied and showed the guard his I.D card.

The guard studied the card and consulted a clipboard he was carrying. "Very well, if you could please follow me sir, I will escort you to the doctor."

The man nodded his head and followed the guard. The two made their way to the back of the building and then got in an elevator. The guard pressed a button and they began to descend. After thirty seconds the doors opened and they stepped out into a small room with a table in the middle with a seat on each side. There was a large mirror on the wall to the left and as the man glanced at it he thought "Obviously a two-way mirror, how dumb do they think I am?"

The guard asked the man to take a seat, "The doctor will be with you shortly." And then he stepped back into the elevator and disappeard as the doors closed in front him.

The man sat down and waited, looking over at the large mirror every now and again, certain someone was watching him. The door next to the mirror swung open and a tall man with white hair and a white lab coat sat opposite him. He haf several files in his hands and put them on the desk.

"Slade Wilson." He said as he read the open file. "Age: 24, Married with one child. Lives just outside Washington D.C, is that correct?"

"Yes sir." Replied Slade.

"Don't call me Sir. I am just a doctor and a scientist. Not some army goon" Saysidthe old man without looking up from his files.

"I am Dr. Cahill, but I'm sure that you already knew that. Now I'm going to cut to the chase Mr. Wilson. You are a prime candidate for my treatment and you and your commanding officer have both agreed for you to undergo this procedure. But I have one final warning before we begin. You are the first human test subject for my treatment. On all the animal test the subjects have shown increased mobility, agility, strength, and intelligence, but humans are different. We are not sure if the serum will have negative effects. Are you still sure you want to do this?"

"Will there be a promotion and pay increase if the tests are successful?" asked Slade with no trace of fear in his voice.

"Yes, your annual salary will quadruple and you will be promoted Colonel."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"Very well Mr. Wilson. Godspeed and Good luck. Now please, follow me."

Slade nodded and followed Cahill through the door and into a bright white room with a reinforced operating table with Kevlar straps at the wrists, chest, legs and ankles. In the room stood three technicians and one very serious looking man in a green military uniform. The military man introduced himself, "Hello lieutenant Wilson, I am General Phillips. And it should be said that if today goes as planned you might just be the answer the all the problems of the United States Army."

"I will do my best, Sir."

"I have no doubt you will solider. Now go and get ready."

Slade undressed and climbed onto the table. The technicians tightened the straps around his body and in no time he was securely on the table. Dr. Cahill then moved forward with a large syringe and told Slade

"Now remain calm while I administer the serum, once it is all in your bloodstream you will wait for two hours. By then it should be safe for you to move."

He then plunged the needle into the bicep of Slade's left arm and pushed the plunger all the way down. The sensation was like non other Slade had ever experienced. It was like ice and fire entering his body and filling every corner from his head to his toes. He felt like his skin was falling off his body and his veins were pumping too much blood and were about to explode. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out for a moment.

When regain conciousness he noticed his eyes refocusing in and out like a camera vision was drastically better than ever had before. His arms and legs were getting larger and his chest expanded. But the most drastic change was happening inside is head. He felt like a dam had just been broken in his mind. He could tell he was using parts of his brain he never had before. Ideas came easier and old concepts he hadn't understood before were becoming crystal clear. But it was too much, a sensory overload. He felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness and the room in front of him disappeared.

When Slade awoke sound came back to him before sight did. He heard Dr. Cahill and General Phillips talking to each other.

"How is his progression?" asked the general.

"He is doing better than we could have ever imagined!" proclaimed the doctor with glee. "His intelligence is nearly 3 times that of a normal solider and he is 10 times stronger than the average man!"

"So nothing is wrong with him?" asked the general hopefully.

"Well…." Said Cahill reluctantly "Wilson's testosterone glands are producing at an alarming rate. And while this gives him regenerative capabilities…"

"Regeranative?" asked the general.

"He has the ability to fix minor cuts and breaks almost instantly. If you cut off his hand it wont grow back, but anything less than that and he will be fine in a matter of seconds."

"So what's the downside?" barked Phillips, excitement creeping into his voice.

"The excess in testosterone causes the subject to be overly aggressive. He can not control himself under extreme emotional trauma."

The general look relieved and said "Well that shouldn't be a problem."

Slade's sight came back and he saw the doctor and the general talking at the end of the room.

Dr. Cahill was still nervous "Even so I have a squad of guards on the way just to make sure that he doesn't fly off the handle."

"Well don't worry Doc, unless we tell him the truth about the execution of his family he wont "fly off the handle." We'll just tell him that there was a gas leak and his house exploded. We even have fake news reports running on all the major television stations across the country. He will never suspect the truth."

"Did we really have to do that?" asked the doctor with remorse in his voice. "I didn't sign up to kill innocent civilians."

"All's fair in love and war doctor. We did what we had to do to make sure nothing distracted Mr. Wilson here from his military duties."

He gestured over in Slades direction only to find an empty bed with a lot of broken straps. "Where in the name of God did he go?" asked Phillips in disbelief.

Little did he know those would be the last words he would ever speak. As he finished his sentence a testosterone driven Slade snapped the generals neck from behind.

"**HOW COULD YOU KILL MY FAMILY?**" screamed Slade as he turned and started to run at Dr Cahill.

The doctor saw the crazed, testosterone driven look in Slade's eyes and knew there was no reasoning with the man. When Slade was two feet away from the doctor he brought back his hand and curled it into a fist for one skull crunching punch. The doctor saw this, closed his eyes and prayed for a quick death. That was exactly what he recieved.

After Slade dispensed of the doctor and general, the guards that Cahill had requested arrived from the elevator. Slade dispensed them quickly, but at a price. As he dove at the first man out of the elevator all six of them opened fire. He was lucky enough to be only struck twice. One bullet hit him on the arm and penetrated only muscle so his body quickly healed the wound. The other struck him in his right eye. The damage was too great and he was lucky that the bullet didn't penetrate the skull. He would live the rest of his days with only his left eye.

So he stood alone in the small room. Eight dead bodies around him and he started to regain control. The testosterone left his system and he slowly calmed himself down.

The first thing he felt was remorse for the killing of the doctor and the guards, but that was quickly replaced by helplessness. It consumed him knowing his family was gone forever. It consumed like the injection he recieved only two hours before. But as his thoughts of his family grew in his mind he became angry.

"Hold on to that anger!" said a malicious voice in the back of his head. "it will be most useful later."

In case anyone is wondering why this is coming up again I'm just re-editing most of the chapters because the first 6 chapters or so were in present tense, and the rest isn't. So that's embarrasing. Also I'm making corrections where I see mistakes and making the writing better. Boom.


	7. Goodbyes

Chapter 7.

Robin glanced at the clock on the wall of his bedroom for the third time in the past minute or so.

"Only two hours until the switch." Thought Robin grimly. He had already made up his mind about what he was going to do. He opened his door and walked to the main room where the others were waiting. He stopped and took a deep breath outside the door.

"I can't let my team see me vulnerable, I need to be the leader." He stood up straight and marched into the room to deliver the news. As he walked in he saw Cyborg and Raven sitting at the table talking silently to each other and Beast Boy nervously pacing back and forth. They all turned and faced him, and for a long moment no one spoke. The silence was daunting and made everyone extremely uncomfortable and anxious.

Beast Boy interrupted the silence by asking Robin, "So… What's the plan?"

Robin looked back at Beast Boy and said to him, "The plan is in two hours the fours of us are going to the forest and I am going to go with Slade so Starfire will be safe."

"That's it?"

"Yes Beast Boy, that's it." Replied Robin in a quiet but firm voice.

"So no big battle with Slade? Were just going to give up and accept his demands?" asked Beast Boy with disbelief.

"That's the only way we can make sure that Starfire is going to be alright! And if you have a problem with it Beast Boy than you don't have to come."

Cyborg and Raven had been quite until now but Cyborg walked up to Robin and put his hand on his shoulder. "Robin, just because you do what Slade tells you doesn't mean he wont hurt Starfire. You could just be falling into a another trap."

"I know." Conceded Robin just loud enough for Cyborg to hear. "But what else can we do?"

"Nothing." Said Cyborg back. He squeezed Robin's shoulder and walked back to the table.

"Now I don't know what Slade wants with me but chances are I may never see any of you again after today. So I want to take this chance to say good-bye to you all."

He walked over to Beast Boy and embraced the small green teen. "You have always been like a little brother Beast Boy. This would have been a much sadder place without you. Take care of yourself and everyone else on the team."

When he pulled away he saw tears in Beast Boys eyes and for once the shape-shifter was at a loss for words. He then moved on to Cyborg and said his goodbye to his half machine teammate. He went over to Raven but when he started talking she interrupted, "Can I speak to you in private?"

He nodded stiffly and followed her out the room and into the hall. Raven turned around and Robin could see her eyes glistening. She whispered to him, "Robin. I love you, Starfire, and the rest of the team more than I have loved anyone else in my entire life, but I have to face the facts. As much as I love Starfire, you are more important to this team."

Robin could tell it was taking a lot of effort from Raven to say this to him so he stayed quiet and let her finish. "Our main job is to protect this city from evil, and…." She gulped and took a moment to gather her confidence. "We can do that without Starfire, but Robin. We can't do it without you. If you're in the hands of Slade or if Slade decides to kill you, the Titans are finished." Robin grabs her and wraps his arms around Raven.

He replied in a small voice, "I know, but I can't let Starfire go, I just…..can't." He let go and the two looked at each other for a moment.

"Don't worry Robin, Starfire will be fine."

For some unknown reason this statement made Robin feel better for that brief moment. Besides, it was the only thing he had.


	8. Explanation

Chapter 9.

Robin awoke in Slade's lair and found himself in an isolated room. He looked around and noticed the familiar red steel walls and heard the familiar gears grinding in the background. "So I'm in Slade's lair."

He got off the single cot that was in the center of the cell and took stock of his surroundings. The only other objects in the room were a sink and a toilet opposite of the bed, and a T.V. screen built into the wall. There were no windows and the only openings in the room at all were air vents located on the ceiling. There didn't appear to be a door anywhere in the room but Robin tested all the walls anyway. He searched the walls for any crack, crease, or line that would show where a door would be located, but his search was unsuccessful. He sat on the bed and put his hands to his face in order to gather his thoughts when something felt wrong.

Robin jerked up and looks at his own body. He was no longer wearing his specially engineered crime-fighting suit, but a white button up shirt and black slacks. This development caught Robin off guard and he felt almost naked without his mask. He laid back on the bed and closed his eyes. He originally intended to start forming a plan in his mind, but something was making him inexplicably tired. His thoughts drifted back to Starfire as he slowly fell asleep, and the last thing in his mind before he finally fell into slumber was Starfire's green eyes.

Robin awoke again but this time with jarring pain. He jumped out of his bed screaming and fell to the ground doubled over and gasping for air. He felt as though his blood was boiling and a thousand white hot knives were stabbing him on every square inch of his body. His mind refused to take anymore, he was about to pass out from the pain. He closed his eyes and waited for unconsciousness overtake him. And as quickly as the pain appeared, it vanished. Robin uncurled from a ball and looked up. Slade's face was on the screen and before Robin could say anything and Slade's voice filled the small room.

"Well Robin now that I have your attention I figured that it was time for you and I to have a little chat. Is that alright with you Robin?" asked Slade menacingly.

"If I say no you're just going to do whatever you just did to me again." Replied Robin. "So lets talk."

"Good boy, it seems that you're getting smarter every day. Now as for why you're here I thought it would be... beneficial for me to enlighten yo-..."

"I'm not going to be your apprentice Slade!" interrupted Robin. "As you should remember it didn't work out to well for you last time."

Slade gave robin a blank stare for a moment. He started to laugh a laugh that was full of hate, not joy. "Oh Robin are you really that foolish?" said Slade after he stopped chuckling. "I learned a long time ago that apprentice's do nothing but disobey orders," Slade then narrowed his eye and lowered his voice, "and turn against their masters."

"Then why am I here?"

"Well Robin as I'm sure you already know you are the leader of the Teen Titans. And without **you **the Titans have no order. And without order the Titans are finished, and Jump city will be mine."

"If all you wanted was for the Titans to have no leader, then why did you kidnap Starfire?" said Robin, asking the question that has been troubling him since he listened to the audio message from Slade back at the prison. "All of us were knocked out, you could have taken me just as easily! So why did you take Starfire!"

Slade looked back at Robin, and the Titans leader actually stepped back when he made eye contact with his captor. He had never seen so much anger, and so much hurt in a person's eyes before. Slade began to speak. "Why did I take Starfire? That's a good question Robin, but before I answer it let me ask you a question. Do you love Starfire with all your heart?"

Robin was taken aback by this question but he manages to stutter a rushed, "Y-yes. Yes I do."

Slade continued, "When you kissed her on the forehead did you think, "This is the last time I will ever kiss the girl I love?"

Robin had now regained his composure and replied in a steely tone, "Yes I Did."

"And when you walked towards me and away from your friends did you feel an inescapable sense of loss?"

Robin looked down and replied quietly, "Yes."

"That's why I took Starfire Robin. So you could feel loss unlike any other. So you could know what that last kiss feels like. So you could go through what I went through! And so you could feel the worst pain there has ever been!"

Robin looked up surprised "You lost someone in the past?"

"Yes I did Robin. But that part of my life, the part filled with misery and loss is gone. And that's why I stole Starfire, so I could make sure that the misery filled part of your life has just begun."

"But I'm not filled with loss." Said Robin with a triumphant smile. "As long as Starfire is alive I will never break to your demands!"

"Oh poor foolish, brave Robin. Starfire will die."

Upon hearing this the color drained from Robins face, and even though Slade talked in his regular monotone Robin could hear the pure, raw, unfiltered rage as Slade said the last words Robin would ever want to hear.

"And you are going to be the one who kills her."

I am actually getting mad at how bad this story used to be.


	9. The Switch

Chapter 8.

Slade was waiting in the forest for Robin and the other titans to arrive. He was compulsively grooming and making sure his suit was at its gleaming and most intimidating. His sensors indicated that the teens were approaching and he took a deep breath and prepared himself for the upcoming transaction.

Robin stode in front of the other three with a determined look in his eye. "I'm here, where is Starfire?" Said Robin in a tone that suggested talking was not something he wanted to do at this time.

"Why so serious Robin? I thought we could have a friendly chat before we have to deal with the exchange."

"No deal Slade. No mind tricks and no wasting time. Now I'm asking one more time, where is Starfire?"

"You're hardly in a position that allows you to give orders Robin. If you want your little lover to be safe I would highly suggest acquiring some manners."

Robin gritted his teeth and barely managed to speak one word, "Fine."

Slade smiled underneath his mask, he was in control of the situation. So he decided to have a little fun toying with the Titans.

"Now you might be wondering what I want to do with you once I have you in my possession." He was greeted with a cold stare and tenuous silence.

"Don't all speak at once."

"Cut to the chase Slade, I'm not in the mood for games."

"I am hurt that you would think I would play game with you Robin. You know I respect you far too much for that."

"No games Slade."

"You were always so serious Robin. Too serious for my taste." Slade wiped some imaginary dust off his sleeve and decided to get on with things. "Now I assume that you want Starfire back, correct?"

"Let her go!" growled Robin.

Slade looked at him and replied in his most mocking tone "What did I just say about manners?"

"Please."

"That's better Robin, you finally learn to obey my orders. Good boy."

Robin was shaking with rage and Slade could tell he was losing self control. But decided not to pursue it.

"Now I am a man of my word, so here is your alien _companion_."

Slade clicked a button on his arm and the orb containing Starfire appeared from behind a group of trees and hoverd 10 feet in the air. Another push of the button and the orb disappeared and Starfire dropped to the ground.

"You lied!" screamed Robin. "She's dead and you killed her!"He leapt at Slade and began to fight hand to hand with the villain. Slade simply blocked all of Robins attacks and grabbed his wrist. He twisted it and Robin dropped to the ground immobilized in pain. The other three had all prepared themselves for a fight, Raven's hands were surrounded by black energy, Beast Boy had transformed into a tiger and Cyborg had his sonic cannon pointed directly at Slade.

"Calm down you foolish boy!" laughed Slade out loud. "Starfire is simply sedated so she wouldn't interfere with out transaction!"

Cyborg ran up to the her and analyzed her with the scanner on his arm. "He's right. She's knocked out but alive."

"Alright Slade." and Slade released him.

"So are you satisfied Robin?"

Robin looked at Starfire lying on the ground and then back at Slade. "Yes. I'm satisfied."

"Now I think it's about time for you to come with me." He grabbed Robin's arm and started leading him away from the group.

"Stop!" whispered Robin to Slade. Slade looked at him and Robin continued, "Can I say good-bye?"

Slade considered this for a second and let go of Robins arm. Robin slowly walked over to where Starfire was and crouched next to her. He leant down and kissed Starfire on the forehead. Slade watched Robin do this and immediately flashed back to when he kissed his own wife good-bye for the last time. And for one split second he felt sorry for Robin. For one split second he even considered letting him go. But this feeling was soon overtaken by the hatred that had consumed the villain since that fateful day 25 years ago, and he interrupted, "As cute as your good-bye is I really do have important things planned, so could you please hurry this up?"

Robin whispered "Good-bye Star, I will always love you."

And then turned and walks away with Slade. The two then vanished into the woods and the three remaining Titans picked Starfire up and carried her back to the tower. As Robin and Slade walked through the woods Robin asked Slade "Are all the Zinothium charges deactivated?"

"There were no charges. I tricked Cyborg's sensors. No one in jump city has enough Zinothium for 300 charges."

Robin was surprised, but at this point, nothing really mattered to him. He just looked at Slade, and then forward again.

"What's wrong Robin? Normally news like that would have driven you over the edge with anger and humiliation."

"You can't possibly humiliate me anymore than you already have Slade. And as for anger, I'm already so full of it I doubt anymore can fit in right now. So I hate to disappoint your massive ego, but I'm not going to explode with rage and try to fight you in vain. It's just not worth it."

Slade smirked underneath his mask. It wasn't the reaction he had been hoping for, but it fit the bill for now. The two walked together for another half mile or so, and they emerged out of the wood onto the outskirts of town.

"So, where now?" Asked Robin.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Replied Slade who promptly after finishing his sentence, struck Robin on the temples, rendering him unconscious immediately. "Did you really think I was going to lead you right to my lair? Give me some credit Robin." He then picked up the limp teen, and started walking north. His home was close, and his plan could finally begin.

Wow this chapter sucked. But it's better now. So thats cool.


	10. A Helping Hand

Chapter 10.

Starfire woke up in the common room of Titan Tower laying on the couch with her three friends standing over her. She sat up abruptly and yelled out "Robin!"

"Calm down Sta.!" said Cyborg in a forceful yet calm voice.

"Where is Robin?" asked Starfire in a frantic voice while looking around the room hoping to find the boy wonder standing by the door or over by the kitchen counter. When she didn't see Robin she asked tentatively, "We did triumph over Slade did we not? We defeated Slade and now we are all safe, is that not correct?"

Cyborg looked down at the alien teen and replied softly, "No Star, Robin is with Slade now. The exchange went off according to Slade's plan."

"No! This cannot be! Robin would not just accept Slade's demands! He must have fought valiantly!"

This time Raven spoke, "Robin obey Slade's demands Starfire. He did it because if he hadn't…Slade would have killed you."

"What? How would he have killed me?"

Cyborg was the expert in this field so he was the one who explained to Starfire. "While Slade had you prisoner he injected trace amounts of Zinothium into your bloodstream. Your arteries carried the element through your heart and into your brain, as well as the other parts of your body. The Zinothium then attached itself to the tissues inside your body. Slade also attached small beacons to those molecules that can receive a signal. And if they receive a certain signal the Zinothium in your body will start to produce mass amounts of energy."

"In English please?" asked Beast boy.

Cyborg turned over to the small green teen and said, "Starfire will melt from the inside out."

"Oh. I liked it better when it wasn't in English… Hey Cyborg!" Beast Boy perked up with an idea in his head. "Couldn't you just remove the Zinothium like you did those little mechanical things Slade put in us when Robin was Slade's apprentice?"

"I can't." replied Cyborg glumly. "I don't have enough experience with Zinothium"

"But you could diffuse those bombs Slade put all over the city couldn't you?" asked Raven accusingly. Why can't you help Starfire?"

"DIFFUSING EXPLOSIVES AND REMOVING MOLECULAR SIZED PECISES OF THE MOST VOLATILE ELEMENT KNOWN TO MANKIND OUT OF THE BODY OF AN ALIEN GIRL ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS RAVEN!" yelled Cyborg both frustrated and angry.

"HEY MAN BACK OFF!" replied Beast Boy. "Calm down, BOTH OF YOU!"

Cyborg and Raven moved towards each other angrily while Beast Boy stood between them trying his best to keep a half demon girl and a half metal man from jumping down each other's throats.

"STOP!" yelled Starfire who has been quiet up to this point and all three turned their heads to the alien girl."Cyborg."

He turned and walked up to Starfire, not in anger but with concern.

"Yes Starfire?"

"You say you cannot remove the Zinothium from my body. But you could remove the probes Slade had previously put in our bodies. Why can you do one but not the other?"

"Cyborg ran his hand over his face and says in a slightly exasperated voice, "I don't have enough formal training with Zinothium to understand it on the sub-atomic level. I could probably remove it from your body Star, but I would end up killing you in the process."

"So you can remove the molecules, but you would harm me in the process?" questioned Starfire.

"Yeah."

"What if you were trained in the properties of Zinothium by someone else? Then would you be able to extract it from my body?"

"I guess, but the only other people who know that much about Zinothium are Dr. Chang, but he would never help us and Robin. And Robin himself"

"Why does Robin have such knowledge of Zinothium?"

"Because he made the Red-X suit." And no one else knows about tha-" He stopped mid-sentence as he suddenly realized what Starfire was suggesting.

"You can't be serious." Said Raven almost in disbelief.

"Only one person can help me." Said Starfire quietly. "And that person is Red-X."

The other three titans stared at Starfire in disbelief."But why would Red-X help us? Asked Beast boy.

"Red-X often told Robin that they were very similar. And whenever Robin has really needed his help Red-X has always been there to provide it." Explains Starfire.

Cyborg nodded but asked, "That all makes sense but how are we going to find Red-X. That guy is impossible to catch."

"He's more slippery than a monkey's garbage can!" giggles Beast Boy.

The three other Titans look at him quizzically.

"Well monkeys eat lots of bananas right? said Beast Boy. The three nodded slowly. "So he would throw away all the peels. So he would have a trash can full of banana peels, and since banana peels are slippery that makes his trash can slippery!"

Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven all just stare at Beast Boy in disbelief. A moment passed and Cyborg just shook his head while Raven glared. Starfire was still so puzzled by Beast Boy's joke that she continued to stare at him.

"What?" asked Beast Boy, a little hurt. "Hey not all of my jokes can be hilarious!"

"I'd settle for just one" Mutterd Raven.

"Hey I heard that!"

"So how are we going to find Red-X? Asked Cyborg, bringing the conversation back to a more productive area.

"That I do not know." Said Starfire crestfallen.

"Ummm hello?" yelled Beast Boy loudly, and the three looked at him again.

"What?" Shot Raven in an annoyed tone.

"What is Red-X always looking for?"

"Zinothium" replied the three simultaneously. "But how does that help us find Red-X?" asked Cyborg.

"In case you guys haven't noticed we have out very own mobile Zinothium broadcasting tower right in this room. And that towers name is Starfire!" proclaimed Beast Boy triumphantly.

Raven gawked at Beast Boy with disbelief and said, "Congratulations Beast Boy, I think you just had your first good idea."

So. Much. Present. Tense. To. Correct.


	11. The puppet

Chapter 11.

"I'm going to what?" asks Robin in disbelief.

"I don't know how I can make this any more clear than I already have Robin. But I will give it another try. Starfire will cease to live, and you're going to be the one who causes that."

"No." Replies Robin. "I would never do that. I don't care how much you torture or hurt me I will never hurt Starfire!"

"Oh I am more than aware of that fact Robin. You have an almost childlike devotion to your friends. And any fool should know that even If I could break you of that bond through torture, your body would be useless and broken."

"So you can't win Slade. Accept it, you lost, and I know how much you hate losing."

A twinge of annoyance ran through Slade's mind when Robin said this. But he had to admire the boy's pride, even when he was cornered and completely defenseless he was still so confident. But Slade chased that thought from his mind. He needed to stay completely focused if he wanted his plan to work. And spending his time in awe of his prisoner was hardly he right way to stay focused, so instead he went back to playing with Robin's mind.

"While it is true I hate losing Robin, just as much as you do, I am not beaten. I do as a matter of fact have a way to make you kill not only Starfire, but anybody else I **want** you to kill."

"No, you're bluffing, you don't have the power to control me."

"Well we will just have to wait and see…. now wont we."And with that the screen goes bland leaving Robin staring into the black emptiness of he monitor.

"No!" screams Robin as he slams his hands on the screen. He walks back to his bed and sits on the end. Thoughts fly through his mind faster than he can grasp them.

"Is Slade bluffing?"

"What if he's not?"

"Who is he going to make me kill?"and while he is lost deep in his thoughts he fails to notice the gas leaking in from the small vents near the ceiling. As Robin breaths in the gas he begins to feel tired and swings his legs over on top of the bed and falls asleep. Once again the last thing he sees before drifting off into slumber are those two green eyes staring right back at him.

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Robin wakes up thirty seconds later, but this is not the regular Robin. It is Robin's body but the Titans leader is not the one controlling it. Robin's mind is fully aware of what his body is doing but he cannot control his own movements. He is mortified to see his legs swing off the bed without him telling them to do so. Robin tries to force himself back into bed but his muscles wont reply. He starts walking and a doorway appears in the wall. Robin watches himself exit the room and into Slade's lair. He walks over to a table with four or five small firearms on it. He looks on in terror as both of his arms reach and pick up the various weapons and their holsters and attach the weapons to his chest, arm, thigh and ankle. He then puts on an overcoat and emerges from Slade's lair into the night. He starts walking north and Robin can only wonder where his body was going to take him.

As it turns out Robin's body was not acting of it's own accord but instead had Jump city's most feared criminal controlling every step from the safety of his secret hideout. Slade was out and ready to kill, and he was using the best disguise he'd ever had.

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The Hive five had not had lady luck on their side ever since joining up with the Brotherhood of Evil. Not only had Jinx left to fight crime with kid-flash but Seemore, Kyd Wykkyd, and Billy numerous had left for reasons unknown to the two remaining members of the Hive. Gizmo and Mammoth had been trying the crime duo for a couple months but it wasn't working. They had figured that their combination of strength and intelligence would make them the perfect team, but instead just resulted in many heated arguments over who was the better villain. Lately the two had been renting out a grungy apartment in the north district of Jump city with stolen money. The two had tried not to attract too much attention and because of it they were as poor as ever. Mammoth was constantly complaining of hunger and Gizmo never had the proper equipment to make more gadgets. They were broke, and if that was ever going to change something had to happen, and soon.

The two are both in the living room watching a cheesy quiz show (Gizmo was showing off his enormous intellect, of course) when the two hear the last thing they ever expected to hear, a knock at the door. At first the two just looked at each other, thinking they had both just heard something but there it was again.

"Knock, Knock!"

Gizmo then gets up and goes to answer the door, murmuring fake obscenities as he walks, "Stupid crud-munching barf bag. Why the snot do they have to come here?"

Mammoth gets up from behind Gizmo and is standing a few feet behind the boy genius when he gets to the door and swings it open.

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Robin sees his hand banging against the door and he heard the mutterings from behind the door and immediately knows who lives here. He doesn't want to kill the Hive, He doesn't want to kill anyone! But it is too late and there is nothing Robin's mind could do about it. The door swings wide open and before Gizmo gets the chance to ask who Robin is (He doesn't recognize the boy wonder in the shirt and slacks) the possessed teen whips out two very large pistols from his chest holsters.

He shoots four times and four red holes blossom on Mammoths chest. The large criminal falls to the ground immediately dead. Gizmo barely has any time to register what has just happened when the butt of one of Robin's pistols slams into his cheek. He falls to the ground and can taste the blood in his mouth. He spits and more than a couple teeth fall out of his mouth. Robin is then on top of the small boy with the barrel of the gun an inch away from the bald boys forehead. "You snot eating lose-"is all Gizmo could manage before Slade/Robin hits him on the other check with the gun.

He sees stars and he heard Robins voice very clearly, "You really should actually swear, the fake expletives are quite irritating."

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Robin hears himself saying those words even though he hadn't told himself to say it. Someone else was talking through him, and he knew who. Robin hears Gizmo say "You Mother Fuc-" before Robin's hand sticks the gun in Gizmo's mouth and pulls the trigger.

He hears the gun shot and sees the blood pool behind gizmo's head. Robins mind is frozen in a combination of disgust and terror. He feels sick to his stomach but obviously Slade isn't losing any sleep over this gruesome murder. Robin's body picks itself up from the ground and walks out of the apartment making sure to keep the door open. He then walks back to the center of town and to the secret entrance to Slade's lair. He enters the hideout and puts the guns back on the table and enters his cell. He lies down and in an instant the control Slade has over his body disappears. His body jerks convulsively and he scrambles up and holds his hands in front of his face. He moves his fingers and makes sure that he is the one moving them. He then walks around the room making sure he has full control of all of his body parts.

Once he is sure that everything is in working order he sits on the bed and buries his face in his hands. He feels all the emotions of his capture weigh down on him and Robin falls asleep with the green eyes being the last thing he says good-bye to.

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I have always strongly disliked Mammoth and Gizmo. That may have snuck into my writing. And I never imagined Gizmo's death would be that harsh. but too late now.

I am definitely changing this to M now. but I would like to thank all the people who have read and reviewed my story. I really appreciate the comments. Keep them up and as usual if you see a problem don't hesitate to bring it up.


	12. The Deal

Chapter 12.

Robin is pacing in his cell a week later. He has no idea on what he is going to do. Every night since the murder of the H.I.V.E Slade had taken control of his body through the mysterious gas and made Robin kill someone else. And Although Slade's murder targets weren't only other villains; Robin had already eliminated Dr. Light, Control Freak and Johnny Rancid. These killings gave Robin the feeling that Slade was getting rid of the competition.

Slade hasn't contacted Robin since their conversation before the H.I.V.E attack and Robin wasn't sure if this was good or not. One thing was for sure though, he didn't want to talk to his captor. He was still trying to purge himself of the guilt of the killings his body had performed.

Robin was about to lie in bed again (that's pretty much all there is to do in the cell) when he heard Slade's voice coming from the speakers on the T.V screen. "Robin, how have you been holding up this past week? I hope everything has been to your satisfaction."

"Killing people isn't very satisfying for me Slade."

"But I would have thought you'd be pleased with the elimination of the H.I.V.E, Dr. Light, the moron on the bike, and that pitiful nerd, what was his name again?"

"Control Freak."

"Ah yes, now I remember. I didn't expect him to be able to endure **that** much pain Robin, but I guess you could say it was a pleasant surprise."

"SHUT UP!" barks robin at the screen. "HE MAY HAVE BEEN A CRIMINAL BUT HE DIDN"T DESERVE TO DIE! YOU BUTCHERD HIM!!"

"Now now Robin, may I remind you that I was not the one holding the knife. You were."

"How dare you accuse me killing Control Freak! I'm not the one who is systematically eliminating all of Jump City's Criminals!"

"Well Explain to me Robin, Why would I want eliminate all of our fair city's criminals? Why would I want to get rid of the competition?" asks Slade with contempt.

"Isn't that obvious Slade?" says Robin with a smug laugh, "You are killing off the competition so this city can be yours."

Slade pauses for a few seconds and says, "Really Robin? That's your theory? Whittling down the competition? How foolish of you, would it kill you to use your brain for once in your life? Now think, what would I have to gain from killing off the other villains? Nothing. The other villains are what distracts the Titans while I concoct the brilliant plans that challenge the teen heroes and give me control of the city. With no other villains all you would be doing Robin, is hunting me down."

"The why kill the H.I.V.E, Dr. Light,Rancid, and Control Freak?"

"They were weak, posed no challenge to you, and if I'm to be perfectly honest I never liked them as criminals."

"Then why use my body? Why didn't you kill them all on your own?"

"If I personally had gone out and started killing villains myself word would have gotten out. "Slade is going around killing all the crooks in Jump City." and if that had happened every thief, crook, criminal, and villain would have fled from this city like rats, and I would have no distraction. But since some "unknown hero" is killing all the bad guys most villains feel that they aren't in any real danger, so they stay. And I keep my distraction. To think I once thought you were smart enough to be my apprentice...."

"Then what do you call what your doing right now Slade?" asks Robin, "Making me go out and kill then bringing me back, sounds like an apprentice to me."

"You are not an apprentice!" snaps Slade; "You shouldn't even be dignifying yourself by saying that."

"Then what am I!?"

"You are a tool Robin! No different from a piece of machinery or a weapon. I have you to accomplish a goal, and your doing your job. No room for free thought or decision making!. Just my will and your body."

And with that the screen shuts off leaving Robin flustered and beaten.

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Red-X awoke in the interrogation room of Titans Tower. He knew they lay out of the tower well because he had been in it previously, to steal the suit he was currently wearing. He didn't know what the Titans wanted with him but he was sure it involved his special set of skills. He wasn't even sure how he was captured. One minute he was in a warehouse following his readings of a large Zinothium source. He had just turned a corner of tall boxes when something very large and very green fell on top of him. Next thing he knew he was in the home of the Teen Titans.

The four Titans entered the room and stood across from captured thief. No one talked until Red-X broke the awkward silence, "So where is my favorite little Titan? Where is Robin?"

For a second none of the Titans spoke and Red-X could tell he had touched a nerve. Then Raven took charge, "That doesn't matter X, what matters right now is that we need your expertise in the use of Zinothium."

"What do you need my help for, Robin knows just as much about Zinothium as I do."

Again the slight pause and Raven once again replies. "Starfire is currently infected with small deposits of Zinothium in her bloodstream, Cyborg could remove the Zinothium but he's afraid it might react during operation. The fact of the matter is he doesn't know enough about the element to safely operate on Starfire, and you do. So we need you to teach Cyborg more about the properties of Zinothium so he can save Starfire."

"Whew, when you kiddies get in trouble you don't play around. Just how did you get Zinothium in you Starfire?"

Starfire glares at Red-X and says one word, "Slade."

"Well you guys certainly are playing in the big leagues now. So let me lay it out for you. I'm guessing Slade probably has Robin captive right now, and once you get me to help with Starfire's condition you want me to help you fight Slade and free Robin. Is that anywhere close?"

The four nod and X takes a deep sigh, "Alright, but what do you have to offer?" Cyborg replies, "A lifetime supply of Zinothium, enough so that you will never have to steal anymore ever again."

"That's a good deal. I will help you in you heroic crusade against evil or whatever you want to call what were doing. Now can you un-cuff me?

Beast Boy reaches down and unlocks the restraints that had previously been holding Red-X to his chair.

"Thanks" says Red -X as he rubs his wrists, "Now as for the thing that fell on me…"

Beast Boy smiles and said, "What's wrong? Never had a two-ton hippo fall on you butt first before?"

"Surprisingly I can't say I have…." Mutters Red-X. He walks towards the door sincerely hoping he can have a shower as soon as possible.

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So I have a soccer tournament coming up this weekend so i will be out of town for a while. The next chapter should be up about the middle of next week. Reviews and other stuff, same as usual. thanks for reading.


	13. Making Plans

Chapter 13.

The Titans and Red-X were sitting in the briefing room of Titans Tower. Red-X had spent three days working with Cyborg and teaching him everything he knew about Zinothium. Cyborg was surprised at just how smart X was but then he figured that it would take a genius to sneak into Titans Tower and steal Robin's most protected piece of Equipment. The operation was scheduled for the following day and now that Cyborg was all caught up Red-X had moved on to talking tactic with the Titans. "There are several things that you need to know about Slade before going up against him. I'm sure that you know most of the facts but I'm just getting us all on the same page." Said Red-X and the Titans gave him the go ahead to start talking.

Even though X was helping them the Titans had a strict set of rules the masked thief had to follow, asking permission to speak was only one on the extensive list that included wearing a tracking bracelet and de-activating his suit, even though he could still wear it.

"Slade is a master-planner. Everything he does is for a reason, and is ruled by logic. And while this is one of his strongest attributes it is also one of his biggest weaknesses. He is driven by logic, probably from his military training. And therefore all of his action are purely logical, or in other words, easy to predict."

"It sounds to me like your saying Slade is a second rate villain." Says Cyborg, "And it sounds like your saying the Titans can't deal with a second rate villain. And it sounds to me like your saying," He pauses while trying to summon the words he doesn't want to say, "The Titans are bad heroes."

Red-X takes a second to take what Cyborg has said in. He pauses choosing his words carefully, he doesn't want to upset the distraught teens and turn them against him. If that happened he doesn't get his Zinothium, and none of this would be worth it.

"Alright metal man calm down, that's not what I'm trying to say at all. Now look, how old are you guys? Raven?"

"Seventeen."

"Starfire?"

"Eighteen Earth years."

"Beast Boy?" Sixteen!....almost."

"Cyborg?"

"Nineteen."

"Exactly, you guys are still kids! You may not be the best heroes yet, but you are still developing. Slade is the perfect Villain for the Titans. Challenging, but with major flaws. He's beatable but tough. He's no Joker or Lex Luthor, but he's good enough to scare the piss out of most people who get in his way."

"You seem to know a lot about the world of villains." Interjects Raven and Red-X looks at her and says, "You don't think I spend all my time in Jump City do you? It's a big world with lots of things steal. I'm always on the move."

"Alright X, whatever you say. Now will you help us beat Slade and get Robin back?" asks Beast Boy. Now that Red-X is satisfied that no one in the room wants to rip his throat out he continues his speech.

"The best way to fight logic is with chaos, do something that Slade isn't expecting."

"Excuse me but I believe that Slade has another critical weakness." Says Starfire in a quiet voice. The three other titans turn towards her and she continues, "I believe that Slade has a troubled past, one which has been filled with much loss. When I was held captive I brought up the fact that Slade has no love in him, and that he doesn't have the ability to love. This prompted him to lose control and savagely beat me."

This brought a moment of contemplation to the other Titans. They were intrigued by this new aspect of Slade but were appalled that he had hurt their friend. Cyborg asks the obvious question, "Star, why didn't you bring this up earlier?"

The Alien girls eyes brim with tears and she responds, "There was so much happening and Robin is gone and my mind has been in other places….I just forgot." This makes her start to sob and she clutches to the person she is nearest to and begins to cry on their shoulder. Raven was the lucky one who had been standing next to Starfire and is put in a very awkward situation.

"There there Starfire, it's alright." Says Raven awkwardly. She looks pleadingly at the other members of the Titans and even Red -X to help her out.

Cyborg is kind enough to take hold of Starfire's shoulders and pull her away from the gray skinned girl. "It's alright Star, The important thing is you **did **remember. And this could really help us with Slade." Starfire looks up at Cyborg and manages a weak smile. She wipes the tears from her eyes and clears her head.

"Is this a valuable piece of information Red-X?" She asks tentatively. Through this whole ordeal Red-X has been extremely uncomfortable and is glad that he can get back down to business. "This is extremely useful Starfire. If Slade loses control he will be very easy to beat."

"How are we going to exploit his two big weaknesses? It's not like we can run into his lair dressed up as clowns and start yelling that he can't love anyone." says Beast Boy.

"Lets sleep on it." Announces Cyborg. "We'll meet again after Star's little surgery and talk about how to take down Slade."

The five stand up and Start to head out the door. Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy head back to their rooms while Raven escorts Red-X to the guest room. As usual with Raven there is little conversation on the way to the room but when they arrive X's curiosity peaks and as he steps through the doorway he asks Raven the question that has been bothering him his whole captivity. "Look Raven, I know you're the one who can give me the most honest answer out of anyone on this team. Why did the Titans pick me to help them? Red-X, the unruly and charming thief who doesn't have any room for anyone else or their rules? It can't be for my Zinothium experience. Chang has twice the expertise and is too cowardly to betray you. Why me?"

Raven replies with no visible emotion, although inside her emotions are about as stable as the Joker's mind, "You and Robin have always been extremely similar. Robin even said that you are him without rules and restraint. And right now the Titans don't need an elderly Asian genius. The Titans need Robin. And you are as close as we are ever going to get." And with that door slides shut leaving X alone in a dark room.

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Slade was excited, and while his exterior would never show it his mind was racing. He had not possessed Robin through his special nerve gas for three days, and for good reason. While being extremely useful it was not the most pleasant experience and was completely draining. And if he planned to posses Robin's body for more than a couple hours he needed every ounce of strength he had.

"Just a couple more days of rest." Thinks Slade to himself, "Then I can finally rid this town of the Teen Titans." The thought of a Titan-less existence was so powerful that Slade actually smiles from underneath his mask. He glances over at the video feed of Robins cell and sees the teen pacing from one end of the cell to another and decides to have another "friendly chat" with the Boy wonder.

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Robin is pacing in his cell when he hears Slade's voice come from the speakers attached to the television. "What's Wrong Robin? You haven't becoming bored now that your not killing people anym-."

Before Slade can finish his jibe Robin whips around and in a flash punches the Monitor so hard that the screen breaks and a large amount of sparks and components come spilling out from the interior of the machine. Unluckily the speakers still work and Robin can hear an obviously angry Slade say, "Well Robin you just broke a perfectly working machine, a tool. Now I live by the rule "an eye for an eye" and seeing how you have become my machine, my tool, I think I will break you."

As soon as Slade finishes the gas starts to come in from the vents and Robin has no choice but to breath it in. He feels his body become numb and he almost falls before Slade retakes control and marches Robin out of the cell and into another chamber of the lair. The room is mostly empty besides on steel table at the far end. Robin walks over and looks in fear at the cavalcade of torture items in front of him. He sees himself grab a red-hot fire poker and gasps as he sticks it through his foot. He then extracts it and sees the blood pour out. He then repeats this action with the other foot with the same result. Robin then looks on in terror as Slade selects several different items of torture and use them on the boy wonder. And for the first time since the beginning of his captivity Robin is glad that he can't feel his body. Once Slade is finished torturing Robin he walks back to the cell and lays robin down on the bed. He releases his control and the feeling returns to the teen's body. The pain is so immense that before the Titan even has a chance to scream he passes out.

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Slade gets up off the ground. The pain from the torture had been too much to stand. He knew that he felt what Robin's body felt when he possessed the boy but it was worth it. The pain was only temporary for the one eyed man, but for the teen it would be lasting.

"Fitting." Thinks Slade as he brushes off his suit, "That my pain will translate to Robin. And that Robin's pain will be much, much, worse."

He then retreats to his bedchamber where he begins his rest for the final part of his plan.

Author's note.

Yes I am the biggest liar ever but i got the urge to write, so i did. I feel like Red-X should be a more present character and that under the right circumstances he is a half decent replacement for Robin. Review!


	14. A Stolen Kiss

Chapter 14.

The next few days at Titan Tower were hectic to say the least. Starfire's operation had been a complete success and she was now completely Zinothium free. This was however only one of the pressing concerns facing the Titans, and even though all the Titans were relieved that their alien friend was in no immediate danger from Slade there was no time to celebrate.

With the absence of Robin the Titans were no longer the well-oiled crime-fighting machine they once were. They had trouble coordinating their attacks and even getting information on the crimes being committed in their city. Robin had always been the one who was constantly monitoring police frequencies and checking the Titans super computer for information on the villains of Jump City. And even if they did manage to get to a crime scene on time they no longer had their leader to direct them in battle. They were basically four individuals with superpowers and suits fighting bad guys. There was no teamwork or communication so the Titans were having trouble fighting even the least imposing villains such as Mumbo or Killer Moth. This coupled with the fact that several of the Titans recurring nemeses had appeared to vanish from Jump City left the teens busy and overworked.

Raven had even suggested enlisting Red-X as a temporary replacement for Robin during battle but as X had clearly told them, "I'm not a crime fighter, the only reasons I'm even helping you fight Slade is because I get my Zinothium, and because he is truly evil."

These weren't the only reasons X didn't want to join the Titans in their fight for justice. Whenever the Titans left to protect the city Red-X was able to go anywhere he pleased in the tower. It was simple enough to get the motion tracker off and leave it in the guest room as he toured the tower taking whatever he pleased (he is a thief after all) and return to the guest room when he heard the Titans coming back from some fight against crime. X had also been using his time in the tower for some of his other interests.

He had always found Starfire extremely attractive, (what guy didn't?) and he had been using all his spare time with the alien princess. He didn't feel any guilt about going after Starfire, as X saw it Robin was either dead or tortured to the point of insanity by now. And that made Star unclaimed territory. Starfire had also noticed all the attention X had been giving her. At first she thought it was just plain curiosity about the alien girl's culture that possessed X to spend so much time with her but as the days passed he became more and more personal. And even though Starfire was naïve about most things concerning earth she wasn't by any stretch of the imagination stupid. She knew of the thief's intentions but being a kind hearted individual she decided that the best course of action was to not cause any conflict and just hope the X would lose interest.

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After a particularly disastrous fight with the Cinderblock the Titans arrive back at the Tower battered and bruised. Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all retreat to their rooms to nurse their wounds but Starfire being more resilient than her human companions decides to stay in the common room and turn on the Television. While she didn't understand most of the slang in the shows she watched Robin had told her to watch them in order to better grasp human culture, and since Robin told her to watch T.V that is precisely what she did. She was watching "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and wondering why a male would dress in such a feminine outfit and wear such outlandish make-up when Red-X walked into the common room and Starfire snapped her head around to see who was at the door.

"Oh, greetings Red-X. May I inquire as to why you are no longer in your room?"

"I felt like taking a walk. Where is everywhere else?"

"After our battle with Cinderblock the others felt it was necessary to be alone and press their tongues to their injuries."

"You mean lick their wounds?" asks X with a small laugh.

Starfire nods and X says to her, "No offense but you don't seem to know a lot about human culture."

"Well that is true, but Robin told me to watch human television so I may then get a better grasp on how humans act and talk." Says Starfire as she gestures to television.

Red-X looks at the program playing on the screen and burst out laughing. This continues for a couple minutes and once he finishes chuckling to himself he explains to a very confused Starfire that "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is probably the worst example of normal human behavior that the young alien could ever see.

"So most humans do not create tall blonde creatures for the sole use of fornication?"

"No Starfire."

"That is a relief. For a moment I was worried Robin might have partaken in such an odd practice."

"Do you still think that Robin is alright?" asks X, trying to get Starfire to open up and therefore become more vulnerable.

"Oh yes, Robin is most resilient. And Robin has dealt with Slade before."

"But Star how long has he been with Slade?"

"Just over a two weeks."

"Do you really think that Slade would just leave Robin alone in a cell for two weeks?"

"Well…"

"Starfire I think it is time to face facts." Says X as he sits next to Starfire on the couch. Normally this would have made the alien girl uncomfortable and she would have moved away from X, but she was very concerned and vulnerable, so she stayed.

"Robin has been gone for a while now, it may be time to grieve and move on." Continues Red-X, inching ever closer to Starfire on the couch.

"But Robin would fight back, Robin would be-"

"Powerless against Slade." Interrupts X who is now so close to Starfire that his legs are legs touching hers. And to her own surprise, Starfire didn't pull away.

"I think you need someone to help you get over Robin. I could be that person." X then takes off his mask and faces Starfire. She gasps as she looks at Red-X's real face for the first time. What she saw was a man of about nineteen or twenty who looked remarkably like Robin. Even though she had only seen the Boy Wonder without his mask once she could still clearly remember what his face looked like. And she would have thought that X was an older brother to the Titans leader. He had the same pointed chin and high cheekbones. He even had the same spiky black hair.

"Wh- Who are you?" asks Starfire shakily.

"That doesn't matter right now." Says X in barely a whisper and then leans in for a kiss. Starfire is so startled that she doesn't even react in time and for a few seconds their lips touch.

Two thoughts started to fly through Starfire's mind at this moment. One- How could she be engaging in lip contact with Red-X? She loved Robin, and only Robin. And Two, the thought that really scared her- He is a better kisser than Robin. But then her instincts kicked in and she pushed the super thief away.

She was immediately filled with rage at X and began to scream at him, "HOW DARE YOU KISS ME YOU- YOU, DIRTY THIEF?!?!"

Red-X seems bemused by all this and as he slips his mask back on he says, "Now tell me you didn't like that a little?"

The small part of Starfire that did enjoy the kiss almost spoke up but the majority of her mind that was ridiculously pissed off kept on yelling. "OF COURSE I DID NOT ENJOY THAT KISS. I HAVE NO FEELINGS FOR YOU. I LOVE-"

and as she was about to finish her proclamation of love for the boy wonder the proximity alarm started to screech and a recored message in Cyborgs voice says, "Intruder approaching Titans Tower. All the Titans Report to the Common room." The security footage from the camera;s surrounding the TOwer was transferred to the big screen of the common room and the other Titans rushed in and looked at the screen. They all gasped when they saw who was hobbling toward the Tower on the screen. Starfire took a deep breath and announced who was limping up to the Titans home.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait. The tourney was a bitch but my team made it to the Semifinals. And I also apologize about my less than satisfactory "romance"writing. It's not my thing but i felt it was necessary for the story.

And concerning when Red-X called Slade mediocre last chapter, I personally do not think Slade or Deathstroke or whatever you want to call him is a bad villain. I really do like Slade a lot. But Red-X is a cocky bastard, so Red-X would think that Slade was mediocre. So the things red-X said last chapter were his opinions, not mine. Please review, more chapters coming soon.


	15. The Return

Chapter 15.

Slade had always been an extremely proud man, and for good reason, he never lost. From his time in the army to his many years spent in the criminal underworld he always won. Whether it was in a push up contest or stealing some piece of high tech machinery he was always the best. And since he was the best he was used to reveling in victory and rubbing his enemies face in their shame. But winning was never enough for Slade. He not only needed to beat his foes, but break them down and humiliate them. One time Slade has beaten a rival thief to an Ion filter that was being held in the high security vault of The Jump City branch of Wayne Enterprises, and instead of just leaving with his prize he left a long series of clues for his rival criminal to find and follow. The clues led to a trap and before the unfortunate thief was killed he was forced to watch a live video feed of Slade turning in the Ion filter in exchange for a very large sum of money.

But even looking back through his lucrative career of thoroughly beating his opponents Slade doubted he had ever beaten anyone as well as he had beaten Robin. In the past few weeks he had stolen the Boy Wonders true love, forced him to say good-bye for the last time, taken control of the young hero's body, made him kill several villains and more than a few innocent civilians, and then to top it all off he tortured the Boy Wonder so badly he doubted Robin would ever be able to fight crime as well as he had previously. Needless to say Slade was very proud, but the time for reflection had passed and Slade was ready to carry out the next part of the plan.

The master villain brought himself out of the meditation he had been in for the previous week. The meditation wasn't only to clear his mind but to also replenish all the energy he had lost in event's of the previous week. Taking control of someone's body while their mind is fighting with all its strength isn't exactly a walk in the park. But Slade was sure that he would be able to last long enough to destroy the Titans, and besides, after that he would have all the time in the world to rest. Slade walked out of his meditation area and walked over to his main control panel. He was about to press the button to release the gas in Robin's cell when he glanced over to the security footage of Robin's cell and saw him laying on ht bed. Slade paused and thought to himself, "Have I really humiliated this little pest long enough?"

After a few moments of careful deliberation he decided that he hadn't destroyed Robin as much as he wanted to ,so he switched on the microphone so Robin could hear him. (The Boy Wonder may have broken the Television but the speakers were still in working order.)

"Hello Robin, I see you aren't looking very well. Are you getting plenty of bed rest?"

When Robin finally replied his voice was weak and shaky. Slade could tell that the Boy had been broken. Spending a week lying in a bed with holes in your feet, arms, and hands and no skin on your lower legs iwill tend to do that to a person.

"Leave me alone Slade…. Ju- just leave me alone."

"Oh Robin I'm afraid I can't do that. But don't worry, you will be leaving here shortly."

"What?" replied the weak voice, although this time Slade could clearly hear hope in Robin's voice.

"That's right Robin. You are going back to Titans Tower, back to your home."

"You….You wouldn't do that." came the voice, ever stronger. "You wont just let me go. That wouldn't fit in your plan."

"Well you are partly right Robin. Letting **you** go back to the Tower by yourself would be most foolish I agree. But your not going back alone, I am going to accompany you."

"Your kidding right?" asked Robin with a small laugh. "You really think the other Titans are going to let you walk right up to the Tower without blowing you to pieces?"

"Of course they would Robin, you should know by now that I am no fool. But I wont walking up **with** you. I am going to walk **you** up to the Tower."

It took a few seconds but Robin's tortured mind to finally grasp what Slade is telling him, but he finally realized the awful truth. "You're going to possess me and walk me right into Titans Tower!"

"Ding, Ding, Ding. We have a winner. I must say I am surprised it took you that long to figure it out." Replied Slade in his monotone drawl."Now that you have hit the jackpot it's time to stop talking, and leap into action. I'm sure all your friends are going to be so very happy to see you. Especially Starfire, she might even spend the night with us. Won't that be interesting?" Slade then shut off the microphone and heard Robin's frantic cries coming from within the cell.

"Slade! NO! you will not do this! You can't! I will get you Slade and I swear I will kill you!" Slade then pressed the button to release the gas and after a few seconds Robins screams subside and Slade feels himself take control of the Boy Wonder's mind. He felt the pain of the wounds he inflicted on Robin but ignored them and started walking out of the cell.

"Next Stop, Titan Tower"

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It takes a moment for the Titans to grasp the situation at hand. Their leader had just returned from being in the most terrifying villain in Jump City's clutches. He had escaped all by himself, and all the Titans were very impressed with their leader. Starfire is the first to react and swoops out of the room emitting a high-pitched squeal of glee. This brings the rest of the Titans back to reality and they follow after Starfire with Beast Boy shouting "Robin's back!", and in Cyborg's case, "Boo-yah!" Raven follows them out not yelling anything, but with a visible smile on her face.

"Raven smiling just doesn't work." Thinks X who before joining the Titans makes a quick dash over to kitchen and pockets all of the more valuable silverware. "WHy would the Titans have such nice cutlery?" thinks X to himself. Little did he know when Robin had told Batman about the new tower Alfred had insisted that the Titans at least have some decent cutlery, so he had sent Robin a set of solid silver, gold plated of forks, knives and spoons that as Red-X guessed were probably worth anywhere between 5 and 10 thousand dollars. And while X was uncertain about why the silverware was here he was never once to question chance, and after thoroughly going though all the Titan's cabinets in a matter of seconds X rushed down to join the other Titans in greeting Robin.

When he arrived he saw Robin laying in Starfire's arms, nearly naked with holes in his hands, feet, and upper arms, missing a good portion of his skin, and covered in blood. The mood in the entryway was very different than it was in the hall before they arrived and met Robin. They all expected their leader to be hurt, but nothing like this. Starfire rushed Robin to the medical center of the tower with Cyborg and Raven hot on her tail. Beast Boy was still standing in the doorway, frozen with shock.

"Are you alright Beast Boy?" asks X. At first it seems like Beast Boy didn't hear him so X almost repeats his question but the green changeling speaks up. "He was so hurt X. His hands and his legs, there wasn't any sk-" but Beast Boy can't finish his sentence and falls silent.

"Come on, lets go see how he his." Says X reassuringly as he puts his arm around Beast Boy and starts to lead him to the medical center. Even X was a little startled, but he was mostly impressed. He had always considered Robin to be his lesser, the inferior one. But after seeing him in the condition he was in X certainly respected Robin much more than he had before. After he dropped Beast Boy off X said his good-bye's to the Titans and left. He collected his Zinothium from a container in Cyborg's room (along with a couple other "choice" items.) and left the Tower. As he teleported away he got a strange feeling this wouldn't be the last time he would visit Titans Tower.

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Robin's body awoke two days later feeling much better than it had upon its arrival at the Tower. And while Robin's body, and Slade, had been unconscious for the past 48 hours Robin's mind had been wide awake. And even though he couldn't see he had been there when Cyborg had done the skin grafts to his legs and cleaned the wounds the red-hot poker had inflicted. He had been there through the gruesome surgery and was feeling even worse than he had when he arrived. He was not only scarred but mentally exhausted. his mind hadn't been able to rest for two days and he was losing his focus. Robin's eyes open and he sees Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy.

"Where am I?" says Slade and in turn, so does his body.

"You in the Medical Center of Titans Tower Robin." Answers Cyborg. "You're alright, but Slade is a nasty piece of work. He did some pretty horrible things to you Robin."

"Slade! We need to get Slade!" says Robin's body as Slade sits him up.

Cyborg holds back Robin and says, "Hold off man! Your in no condition to fight. Since whatever Slade used to Stab you was extremely hot it cauterized the wounds, so you didn't lose any blood. But you wont be doing any running with those legs anytime soon. All the nerves are shot, your going to have to teach your legs to work again."

"I can still walk." Says Robin's body and he stands up and gives Cyborg a big hug. "I missed you Cy. More than you will ever know."

"Back at you hair gel." Says Cyborg returning the hug. Robin sees Starfire and walks over to her.

"Robin I am most joyous because of your retur-", but before she can finish Robin's body leans in and kisses the alien girl. They stay this way for several moments and after Starfire overcomes the surprise she wraps her arms around Robin and the two embrace. Robin's body finally pulls away and the two stare at each other. Robin's mind can see those two beautiful green eyes looking right at him and his mind starts screaming, "_STARFIRE! IT'S NOT ME! SLADE IS_ _POSSESSING MY BODY!" _but of course the Alien princess doesn't hear his silent cries and Slade turns Robin's body away to greet the other two members of his team.

"Beast Boy! It's great to see you!"

"You too Robin! And although I missed you it was nice being the most attractive male in the tower for a while." This comment makes Cyborg scowl and Robin's body chuckles.

"I missed you BB." Finally Robin turns to the last member of the team and says, "Hey Raven."

Raven was Slade's most pressing concern in sending Robin back to the tower. Since she is an empath she can feel others emotions, and if she sensed Robin's emotions she might be able to tell Robin was being possessed. Robin knew this as well so when Slade turned his body in Raven's direction Robin's mind yelled as loud as he could, _"__**RAVEN!! CAN YOU HEAR ME? SLADE HAS POSSESSED MY BODY AND IS CONTROLLING MY EVERY MOVE!! HELP ME RAVEN! HELP!!**_"

Raven made sure she was extra thorough when going over Robin's emotions. She wanted to make sure that fear hadn't taken control of their leaders mind so she used her powers and searched deep through Robin's emotions. From what she could tell Robin wasn't feeling much of anything. He almost seemed….empty inside. Like there was something trying to get out but it couldn't. But she figured that it was just repressed emotions from his torture and left it at that. They could deal with those later.

"Hello Robin, It's very nice to see you again. I was worried that you would be gone forever." She droned on in her usual monotone for appearances but inside her emotions were off the wall. She was really convinced that Robin was gone forever, and now he wasn't! Happy was ecstatic and love was ever more present. Robin's body pulled her into a hug and for the first time since Trigon's invasion of Earth she accepted the embrace readily.

Robin's body then pulled away from her and addressed the whole team, "I am really happy to see all of you guys again, but we need to get down to business. Slade is out there and we need to find him, but first I need to get better. I will be spending the next couple weeks in rehab while you guys keep an eye out for Slade. I need some alone time to think of a strategy but there will be a meeting in three hours in the briefing room. I will see you all later." Once he finished Robin's body turned and walked slowly out the door to his room.

Once he was inside he sat on his bed and began to talk, "How did you like that Robin? Pretending to be you and fooling your friends was much easier than I thought it would be." he heard his own voice say. Obviously Slade was talking to him through his own body.

_"How do you think I liked it?" says Robin's mind and Slade replies, "_No need to get snippy Robin."

_"You can hear my thoughts?"_

"Oh yes Robin, although you can't hear mine. And I must say kissing a beautiful alien through your body was different, yet most enjoyable."

'_YOU TWISTED EVIL BASTARD!_" screams Robin's mind.

"Yell all you want Robin," says his body, "It won't help you now._"_

_Author's note._

What can I say? Slade is an evil bastard.

So I'm getting a good amount of hits on my story but only 17 reviews. So if you have been reading my story but haven't spoken up yet go for it! I would love to hear what you think, and as always criticism is readily accepted. If you guys don't give me advice i'll never get better, and wouldn't that be terrible?

Yes.

It would.


	16. Sabotage

Chapter 16.

Slade had been enjoying his time in Titans Tower immensely. Three days had passed since he had awoken from the surgery and he was feeling fine. Cyborg had done a spectacular job with all the surgery that was needed on Robin, and as a result Slade/Robin was now virtually pain free. The rehabilitation that Slade was putting Robin's body through was a different matter altogether though, while Slade didn't want to arouse suspicion by refusing the treatment he didn't want to excel at it either. Slade may have been extremely proud, but that didn't mean he was stupid. He knew that the Titans had foiled his plans on numerous occasions before and just because he had a major upper hand didn't mean he had ruled out the Titans strength altogether. The way Slade saw it, if Robin were able to break away from Slade's control and regain possession of his body, it would be much more preferable for the Boy Wonder to gain control of a body that would be less useful in fighting him. So he would do the rehabilitation plan Cyborg had set up for him, but didn't do it well. Sure Robin's body was progressing, but not at the rate Robin would have liked.

But aside from the duties Robin had for the team that Slade had to fulfill, Slade found himself with a lot of free time to roam the Tower. Slade was overjoyed at this fact because the Titans home was a treasure trove of information for Jump City's most wanted criminal. He was able to view their training tactics from up close, get access to all the information the Titans possessed about him and the other criminals of Jump City, which Slade tampered with almost immediately.

He was also able to view all the information about the Titans and their families. (Apparently Starfire had a sister who hated the Titans and was nearly as evil as him, maybe an alliance was due sometime in the not to distant future.) Needless to say Slade was better informed on the Titans than he had ever been before, and was satisfied that if he ever fought them again, he would have the upper hand. However gathering information wasn't the only reason Slade was in the Tower; it wasn't even the main reason. No, the main reason Slade had concocted this brilliant plan to infiltrate Titans Tower was very simple.

Sabotage.

He could have very easily killed all the Titans in their sleep, but that wasn't his style. Early on when his plan was still in development he had even considered taking this path, but it was too brutish, to crass. Slade decided right then and there that all the Titans, not just Robin, deserved to be humiliated. And thusly he had come up with a different fate for each of the Titans. And now that he had gathered all the information he felt necessary, the time had finally come to start destroying the Titans.

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Robin's mind had been present for the events of the past few days and was horrified in what he was seeing. Slade was flipping through all the Titans best kept secrets like some cheap supermarket tabloid, and the other Titans had no clue as to what was happening! He had tried to warn the others about what was happening by screaming or regaining control of his body, but nothing worked.

His only hope was Raven and her empathic abilities. Whenever his body was near Raven he let off the strongest emotions he could. He had tried anger but that had gotten no reaction. Next he had tried fear, hate, and rage in that order but nothing worked. Then it struck Robin, all the emotions he was shooting at Raven were emotions that Robin would naturally be feeling after being kidnapped and tortured. To grab her attention he had to feel an emotion that by all means he shouldn't be feeling. Only one struck his mind, love. So Robin had it settled. Next time he crossed paths with Raven he would conjure up a memory of love, and hope that it would be enough.

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Slade could hear all of Robin's thoughts, and had thought about the Boy Wonders current scheme to alert Raven. It seemed to pose no threat to his plans. No other emotion had worked, why would love? It was a useless and burdening emotion as far as Slade was concerned and it wouldn't have any more effect than all the others.

Nevertheless the time for action had come and he walked over to Cyborg's room for step one of his dastardly plot. When he arrived in Cyborg's room it was empty, but this was to be expected. Every Thursday night was the all-you-can-eat special at the Titans favorite seafood restaurant, and Cyborg was never one to miss an all-you-can-eat special. So Robin crossed the mostly barren room and walked up to the half metal man's recharging station. He pressed a red button and a keyboard slid out from the side of the huge computer. It took Slade all of forty seconds to break through the numerous firewalls and passwords the Titans tech expert had set up.

"How disappointing." Said Slade out loud. "I had hoped destroying my nemesis's would have proved more of a challenge than this."

He then typed a long line of code and pressed enter a couple times. Once he was done he pushed the red button again and the keyboard slid back into the wall of the station. Slade turned Robin around and walked him out the door and to the briefing room. In it's entirety the whole operation had taken less than two minutes, but the damage would last much longer. Slade had implanted a virus in Cyborg's recharge station, but this wasn't like any other virus. It didn't just cause the whole system to crash and reboot, but put a new command in the mechanical part of Cyborg's robot brain.

This command was very simple: Make the wrong decision, every time.

Whenever Cyborg was posed with a situation where there were several choices he could make, his mechanical brain would make him chose the worst possible option. So anything from choosing whether to put milk or orange juice in his cereal, to deciding whether to fight in a battle, or run away, or start fighting his own teammates would be affected.

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Dealing with Beast Boy was going to be much different than with Cyborg. With Cy it all revolved on technology and equations, but with the green shape shifter it would require exploiting emotions, mental weaknesses, and insecurities. Once Slade reached the briefing room he called Beast Boy over the communicator.

The green teen answered, "Yo Rob, what's up?"

Slade responded, "Beast Boy, briefing room, **now.**"

Beast Boy wasn't an idiot and he could tell that whatever Robin wanted to talk to him about, it was serious, and being late really wasn't going to help him. So he started to sprint down the hall toward the Titans briefing room and had gotten about halfway when he passed Raven's room. She was just emerging from her room with a book in her hands and was startled to see him running down the hall at full speed.

"Beast Boy, Stop." She said, and of course he did.

He had developed a hopeless crush on the sorceress ever since about a year after Terra was turned into stone. There was just something about her, the violet hair and eyes, the endearing shyness, that made the girl irresistible to him. And because of the crush he always did what she requested him to do, which of course puzzled Raven.

"It's probably because he's scared of me." Thought Raven glumly, and while she wasn't ready to admit it, she had grown quite a large soft spot for the green Titan.

In the past few months since the whole Tokyo debacle he had really come in his own. He was fighting much better, and had been evolving as an intelligent person as well. He seemed to have consistently good ideas and would even get Raven to participate in some pretty engaging conversations. The more vain part of Raven had noticed that he had grown several inches and was certainly more muscular than he had been only a year ago. But of course being Raven she would never let on about any of these feelings, not yet at least, so she went back to being the cold and monotone girl the other Titans were accustomed too.

"Why are you running around the Tower and making an ungodly racket in the middle of my meditation time?" she asked in an almost bored tone.

"Sorry Rae, It's just that Robin has something urgent he wants to talk to me about. So I'm kind of in a hurry."

This immediately intrigued Raven, Robin had been acting slightly different lately. His actions and words definitely fit Robin, short and to the point, but his demeanor was not the same. He was not as engaging as he used to be, and while Raven was not sure if it meant anything or not, Robin was never outside in the morning to enjoy the sunrise like he used to. Something was up, she was sure of it. So she asked Beast Boy to do something for her.

"Beast Boy, if you get a chance can you ask Robin how he's doing? He won't talk to me because I'm not the most sociable person in the world, but he has always got along with you. Will you do that for me?" asked Raven hopefully.

Beast Boy was ecstatic, a chance to prove himself to Raven! Of course he was going to do what she asked! "Sure thing Rae! But if you don't mind I really need to get to the briefing room." And with that he began to run away again.

"Beast Boy wait!" called Raven after him and he stopped and turned around, hope swelling up inside of him.

"Don't call me Rae."and then she turned and floated down the hall.

The hope inside Beast Boy deflated like a balloon as he thought, "Oh well, maybe next time." and turned to continue running down the hall.

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When Beast Boy arrived in the briefing room Robin was standing to the back of the room with his hands behind his back. Beast Boy waited for him to turn around but he didn't, so he tried talking to him instead.

"Hey Rob, sorry about being late but Raven stopped me in the ha-"

"Sit down." Said Slade cutting the short green teen off. Beast Boy sat down and Slade turned Robin around and began to talk.

"Beast Boy, are you serious about fighting crime on this team?"

"Yeah Robin, of course I am." Said Beast Boy, taken aback that Robin would even have to ask that question.

"Then do you mind explaining to me **WHY THE HELL YOU KEEP DRAGGING THIS TEAM DOWN?"** yelled Slade as he slammed his fists down on the table.

Beast Boy was stunned; he couldn't believe his leader had just yelled at him like that. Slade continued, his voice was now calm, but somehow that seemed to have even more effect on the green teen.

"That's right Beast Boy, for years now you have been holding back this team, keeping us from finally getting rid of crime in Jump city. And let me give you a warning; you are the only one on this team who is replaceable. Raven is the most powerful and Starfire is the strongest. Cyborg does all of our tech and I'm the leader, which leaves you, the comic relief. And don't think I haven't gotten offers from other heroes wanting to join the Titans, why I turned them down I don't even know."

Beast Boy is still paralyzed with shock. How could Robin of all people be saying this? Was what he saying true?

"Now I am going to give you one more chance Beast Boy. Prove yourself worthy and I wont kick your sorry ass off this team. Dismissed."

Beast Boy sat in his seat for a few seconds before he finally got up and slowly turned around and started toward the door. About halfway to the exit he heard Robin's voice again, "Oh and Beast Boy, don't even try with Raven, I don't need a relationship dragging this team down. I doubt she even likes you anyway."

And with that last painful jibe Beast Boy left and walked slowly to his room to contemplate what had just happened.

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"Excellent." Thought Slade to himself once Beast Boy left. "Now to destroy Robin's lover, and that half demon portal."

He was especially looking forward to the demise of Starfire, especially after the incident when he was holding her captive. So he headed back to Robin's room to get ready for the date Robin had with Starfire in half an hour. Slade had prepared a romantic candle-lit dinner under the stars up on the roof so that he didn't have to leave the confines of the Tower. Thirty minutes later Slade was accompanying Starfire in the elevator up to the roof, and even Slade had to admit Starfire was almost impossible to resist in a skin-tight, strapless, violet dress. The dinner started with Slade and Starfire making idle, but enjoyable small talk but as soon as the the main course arrived Slade decided to lay it all on the alien princess.

"Starfire when I was in Slade's lair I realized a lot of things. Firstly that I love you and I always will, and Secondly that I want to spend as much time as I can with you."

"Oh Robin I feel exactly the same way." Replied Starfire with tears forming in the corners of her beautiful green eyes.

"And Starfire I feel like we have both been with each other long enough that were comfortable, right?" Starfire nodded and Slade continued, "Well if we are comfortable with each other then I think as a couple we could really make our relationship more meaningful if we…... experienced new things together. Would you be alright with that?"

To answer his question Starfire took Slade/Robin's hand and lead him to the elevator and to her room for the night.

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A couple hours later Robin and Starfire lay together in bed, Starfire had dozed off and had her arm around Robin. But Slade was wide-awake.

Robin's mind was awake as well and was half enraged and half depressed. He was livid that Slade would have done that to the girl he loved. He swore that if he ever got the chance he would make sure Slade suffered as much as he had. And depressed because spending the night with Starfire was something he was going to save for when they were both ready. And Slade had ruined one of the most important steps in their relationship. Not to mention how was he going to explain that it was Slade she had spent the night with, not Robin.

Slade moved Starfire's arm off Robin's chest and swung his legs off the bed. He got up and started to collect his clothes from the floor when Starfire woke up.

"Robin, Where are you going? Will you not stay the night?"

"No Starfire, I'm going back to my room."

"Why?" asked a puzzled Starfire.

"Because we can never be together Star, you saw what happened because I was in love with you. It jeopardized the team. I can't risk that happening again.I'm sure you'll understand."

"What?" asked Starfire in disbelief, her eyes glistening with tears.

"You and I are finished Star."

"Bu-bu-but what about when you said that you would be loving me forever?" asked Starfire, tears now streaming down her face from both eyes.

Robin's mind was screaming as loud as he could,"_ **I MEANT THAT STAR! I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT!!**_"

But all that Starfire heard was Slade saying,"I lied. I just wanted to see what it was like spending the night with you. Thanks for that by they way."

He started to walk away but paused and looked back over his shoulder, "Well see you in the morning Star." And then as Slade walked out of Starfire's room he couldn't suppress the smile on his face as he heard the sobs coming from behind him.

The doors shut behind him and as he walked back to Robin's room he said aloud, "Three Titans down, one to go."

Author's note.

I have changed my name to "Suck it Trebeck" if you have seen the SNL skit this is from i hope you will agree with me that it is hilarious!

Long chapter for the win. I realized that i didn't have any Raven/Beast Boy in this story, and all good Titans stories need a little bit of that. At least in my opinion. So there you have it. Expect more of that in the future.

Also just a little point here, I do realize that since Starfire is an **alien** that probability of her having a compatible reproductive system to a human is probably around 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 etc.... you get the idea, but ofr the sake of the story lets just say that it all works.

Oh and if you feel that Slade is getting away with too much, don't worry!  
He will get whats coming to him, and it will be sweet.

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter! you guys did a great job but I'm afriad I'm going to have to ask you do to do it again. If you haven't reviewed please do! Reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside!


	17. The Severed Connection

Chapter 17.

Raven awoke at 6 A.M as usual, to the sound of her alarm clock reached over and pressed the button to stop the screeching of the souvenir Batman alarm clock that Beast Boy had gotten her last Christmas. She gave the smallest of smiles as she looked at the clock. When she had first received the gift on Christmas morning the garbage can was the destination she had envisioned the clock would look the best in, but for the sake of Beast Boy's feelings she had taken the clock and put it on her bedside table. She had originally planned to take it off her nightstand and throw it away once December 26th came, but something had stopped her. She didn't know why but whenever she tried to throw the cheap piece of plastic away, she couldn't bring herself to do it. After a few months she realized that the clock, while hardly anything special, did remind her of Beast Boy. This alone was reason enough for her to keep it, but as an added bonus the pitch black clock with its large batwing shape fit perfectly with other dark décor of her room.

She changed out of her sleeping clothes, a tank top and short shorts, to her standard black unitard and blue cape, then opened her door, walked out the door and nearly fainted at the range and intensity of emotions she felt in the different areas of the Tower. She hadn't felt the emotions before stepping out inot the hall because she had made sure that her room was an emotional seal from the outside world. The last thing she needed was all the Titans emotions flowing through her mind while she was trying to fall asleep. But now that she was out of her room the cavalcade of feelings were hitting her very clearly and it was almost too much to bear. It took a few moments of extremely hard work but she finally regained control and she decided that finding out what emotions she was feeling and just where the hell they were coming from was probably a good idea. So she concentrated and after a few moments she finally felt she had everything sorted out.

Beast Boy's room was closest to hers and through his door she could feel despair, fear, and a whole lot of apprehension. "I'll deal with him first." Though Raven to herself. She decided on this for several reasons, the first being that he was physically closer to her than any of the other Titans at this particular moment in time, second, if Beast Boy was hurting she wanted to help him. And thirdly, she was surious about what Robin had said lat night.

From Starfire's room Raven sensed a whole mix of emotions that could best be described by the word, "Anguish." Raven made a mental note to immediately attend to her alien friend after talking to Beast Boy. And from the common room she sensed Cyborg, and while she couldn't feel any abnormal emotions coming from her half machine teammate she was sure something was probably wrong with him as well. Robin's emotions were not present, as they had been for the past week or so. And while Raven had no idea what was going on she decided dealing with her friend's problems was a good way to start.

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Raven knocked on Beast Boy's door and a small voice came from inside.

"Who is it?" asked the changeling quietly through the door.

"It's Raven, can I come in and talk?"

"Sure, I guess. Come in."

As soon as Raven cleared the threshold between the hall and Beast Boy's room she immediately regretted going into his room instead of inviting him to hers. The floor was strewn with clothes and most of them smelled like they hadn't been washed, ever.

"How can he have this much laundry? He doesn't wear anything besides his jumpsuit." Thought Raven, but she kept it to herself as there were more important things to attend to. She did pause for a second before she talked because she noticed half a pizza lying on the lower bunk, that to Raven's disgust had mushrooms growing on it.

"Umm Beast Boy, did that pizza have mushrooms on it originally?"

'No, but with today's high pizza topping prices I figured I would be economical and just grow them myself." Said Beast Boy with the slightest of grins on his face.

Raven had to give Beast Boy credit, even when he was at his worst he could still make a joke. To boost the feelings of the depressed Titan she gave him a smile and could sense his mood growing more cheerful by the second. But Raven had never been on for subtlety or tact, and because of that fact she went got right to the point and asked Beast Boy, "Beast Bot I can tell something is wrong with you. Do you mind sharing what that is?"

Beast Boy looked at Raven for a few seconds and took a deep breat.h. He didn't like admitting his weaknesses to the girl he adored, but right now it didn't seem like there was any other option. After a few moments he began, "Remember last night when I told you I was on my way to see Robin, how he had something important he wanted to talk to me about?"

Raven nodded and Beast Boy continued, "Well it turns out that I have been dragging the Titans down for years. Robin told so me himself. He said that I was the only replacable one on the team, that I'm just comic relief. He also told me that I have one more chance to prove myself, or he's kicking me off the team."

Raven just blinked, words just didn't seem to come to the sorceress. She was shocked and appalled that Robin would say something like that to another member of his team, to his friend of almost three years now!

"That's ridiculous." Said Raven slowly, as she was still having problem articulating her thoughts into sentences that didn't involve phrases like, "Self-righteous Bastard." Or "Power Crazed Asshole."

Raven looked at Beast Boy who was sitting on the top bunk rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Look Beast Boy, don't worry about Robin. He is way out of line, and I'm going to make sure he knows it."

"No, please Raven I don't want to make a fuss because I'm not good eno-"

"You **are **good enough." Said Raven forcefully. "You have really been evolving as a fighter, you're one of the main reasons why Jump City was relatively crime free. And don't worry about being replaced, I'll make sure Robin knows how stupid he is being."

"Thanks Rae, I really appreciate it."

"Your Welcome Beast Boy, now if you'll excuse I having others things I need to do."

She began to walk out of the room and got three qyearters of the way to the doors when she heard Beast Boy's voice come from behind her, "Raven, wait!"

She turned around, and this time it was her turn to fill with hope. "Yes Beast Boy?"

"Sorry about the mess, I've been meaning to throw out that pizza for a couple months now."

She nodded and turned and left the room. Inside of Raven the hope was leaving every bit as fast as it had come, "Maybe next time." She thought to herself.

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As she approached Starfire's room Raven doubted that you would need to be a empath to sense the pain coming from the alien princess. She knocked on the door and from inside a voice choked with sobs replied, "R-R-Robin?" and then descended into uncontrollable sobs.

Raven really had to yell to be heard over Starfire's constant crying and she half spoke half yelledm "STARFIRE, IT'S RAVEN. CAN I COME IN?"

In response to her question the door slide open, allowing Raven to walk into Starfire's room. As she walked into the room she noticed two things that gave her a big clue as to what Starfire was crying about. The first was that Robin's mask and suit jacket were lying on the floor next to the bed, and the second was that the only thing covering Starfire was the pink sheet she was hiding under.

"Starfire, what happened?" asked Raven, even though she had a very good idea what had transpired during the night. She was just so shocked she needed conformation.

Starfire stopped crying long enough to say, "Last night R-Robin and I slept together, and a few hours later I awoke to find him leaving. I inquired as to why he was departing so early, and then he said we could no longer be to-together!He said he did not L-L-L" and that was all she managed before she started sobbing again.

After hearing this Raven was so furious with Robin that she didn't even bother to console Starfire like she had with Beast Boy, she just ran out of Starfire's room and straight to Robin's. The Boy Wonder was going to get what was coming to him, she was going to make sure of that.

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Once she reached Robin's room she didn't even bother knocking, she just broke the doors open with her powers and threw them to the side. She hadn't been this angry since Terra had beaten her in the mud. She was looking for someone to rip to pieces, and that person was Robin. Not only had he threatened Beast Boy, but he had used Starfire! What had gotten into him? She was disgusted, beyond disgusted, she was revolted by her leaders actions! How could he be doing these things? When she arrived Robin was not in his room, nor was he in the kitchen, bathroom, common room, garage, basement, evidence vault, briefing room, medical center, or gym. Over the next twenty minutes Raven searched the whole tower, and no trace of Robin. And to top it all off she couldn't find his emotions. It was like he had disappeared. Then it struck her, what was the one place in the whole tower where emotions couldn't get it or out?

------------------------------------------

Robin's mind was panicking, Slade had gone into Raven's room, and it was pretty obvious what he was going to do in there. "Well Robin, lets see how the half demon likes having her emotions let loose." Said Slade out loud as he picked up the mirror that was the portal to Raven's nevermore. Robin did not want to be around if Raven lost control. As Slade was about to enter Raven's nevermore Raven opened the door to her room.

"What are you doing in my room?" asked Raven, with a voice full of rage.

This was Robin's chance! With all his mind power he thought of the people he loved. His family, the bat clan, Batman himself, and even Alfred. But nothing seemed to have any effect and Raven's fury was left unchanged. Raven started to say something else when Robin, who was running out of ideas quickly and starting to panick, thought of one final thing.

He pictured Starfire's two beautiful green staring at him. Eyes full of innocence, joy, and passion. Love flooded every corner of Robin's mind and consumed him. He lost himself in those eyes, and allowed himself to be taken away to better times.

"If this doesn't work for Robin," thought Slade curiously, "Nothing will."

Raven was telling Robin to leave her room before she re-opened the holes Slade had made when she stopped mid sentence. There was an overwhelming feeling of love coming from that wasn't there just a second agao. This was getting to strange. A moment ago he had been as empty as ever, then just like that he was a hopeless romantic. This was getting to weird and Raven decided to use to her last resor, the telepathic connection with Robin. She didn't like opening the telepathic connection the two shared, they both agreed it was an invasion of privacy, but if desperate times call for desperate measures, this was as good a time as any. So Raven opened the link.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Robin sensed the connection opening up and felt Raven's mind mingling with his, "Robin! What the hell has gotten into you lately?" asked Raven's mind furiously. "Your being an Asshole! I understand torture is tough but that gives you no excuse fo-"  
"_Raven, I'm not in control of my own body! Slade has possessed me using some neural insulating gas! Help me get control of my body again!" _

Raven broke the connection and immediately sent her "dark spirit" into Robin.

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Slade has prepared for the physical pain, and in the case of Starfire physical pleasure he was going to experience in Robin's body. But nothing could have prepared him for being possessed by the spirit of a half demon sorceress. His control over Robin was broken instantaneously and he fell to his knees. Now in control of only his own actions he punched the ground so hard he broke three of his fingers and left a sizeable dent in the steel floor of his lair.

He then took a couple seconds and a few deep breaths to calm himself and then got to his feet, brushed the dust off his suit, and walked over to the monitor. "This isn't over Titans, the fact you broke my hold over Robin is insignificant, I will have my victory."

Slade pushed a button on the console, and all hell broke loose in Jump City.

Author's note:

The possesion is over! Robin is back! Boo-Yah!

but seriously I am writing this at three in the morning so I am a little bit off. please blame any mistakes I have ever made or am going to make on the fact that it is three in the morning. Thank you.

So I go a whole bunch of hit's last chapter, and only ............wait for it.............one review. thats right. only **ONE** little review.(Thank you RomanceDramaAzngrl) so you don't know how much I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate to beg for reviews. But I love 'em. They're like cocaine, at least I would assume that's what they're like. never having tried cocaine i wouldn't truly know, i just made an assumption. maybe it's wrong. but hey! so please please please x 1,000,000 review if you haven't done so. or if you already have.

Peace.


	18. Damage Control

Here are some non-biased reviews from top literary critics that I really think will help you appreciate how awesome my story is.

This is a really fantastic Fanfiction!- Suck It Trebeck's Mom.

Wow Sam, I really like this. Keep up the good work!- Suck It Trebeck's Sister.

Good Job Son! You are doing an excellent Job with this story- Suck It Trebeck's Dad.

Dude this story is off the hook!! It's bitchin!!!- Suck It Trebeck's best friend.

(See? Totally un-biased and by top experts)

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Chapter 18.

As soon as Robin got control of his own body, he fell to the ground. He hadn't used his body in over a week, and he lost his sense of balance, temporarily at least. Even talking felt awkward and foreign.

"R-r-r-rawen." He managed to say before Raven rushed to his side and helped him up.

Robin tried again, "R-Raven" he managed to say, it was getting better.

"Yes, Robin?"

"Starfire, whe-where is Starfire?" He asked slowly.

"In her room, crying her eyes out. Although Robin, you should probably go and work things out with her **after** you regain the ability to talk like a functioning member of society."

"Good Call." Replied Robin with a small smile.

By now Raven had led her leader into the common room and by the time she had helped him sit on the sofa most of his diction had returned.

"Raven, I am so sorry about everything Slade has been making me do these past couple day's."

"Don't worry Robin, it's not your fault. Besides you didn't do anything to me. You should really be apologizing to-"

**CRASH!!!!!!**

Robin and Raven jerked their heads quickly in the direction of the kitchen where Cyborg had been wreaking havoc the past half-hour. As far as Robin could tell Cyborg had left the sink running and plugged the drain, taken the microwave and stuck every singe metal object he could find into it, then turned it on. And the crash had been caused because he had just tipped the refrigerator over and was now jumping on top of it for reasons unknown to everyone but him.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Raven incredulously.

"Slade made me put a virus in him, when he recharged last night it infected the mechanical part of his brain. The virus makes him do the wrong thing, every time. Although what choice he was presented with that made me start to jump on the fridge I have no idea."

"How do you know all this?"

"Let's just Slade will never pass up a chance to gloat, especially after last night with Starfire." Said the Boy Wonder, who put his face in his hands.

"Robin, I am so sorry." Said Raven sympathetically. She then wrapped her arms around Robin and embraced him. Normally she never would have done this, but she could feel just how terrible Robin felt, and he took the hug gratefully.

"Thank you Raven, this means a lot to me." The tender moment was interrupted however, by a strangled, gurgled noise coming from the doorway. Raven turned her head to see what caused the odd noise, and was unpleasantly surprised. Standing in the doorway was a very shocked and very angry Beast Boy. He was breathing heavily and his hands had become clenched into fists.

Robin turned his head over to Beast Boy and said, "Hey, Beast Boy, I have some explaining to do."

"**YOUR DAMN RIGHT YOU HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO ROBIN! YOU YELLED AT ME! YOU MADE ME FEEL USELESS ! YOU TOLD ME I WAS ONLY HURTING THIS TEAM! YOU WERE A TOTAL JERK AND THEN TO TOP IT ALL YOUR ALL OVER MY G-**"

"BEAST BOY, STOP!" yelled Robin with strength Raven didn't know he had. "Look I am really sorry about treating you poorly, but that wasn't me! Slade had taken control of my body back at his lair and sent me here under his control. Everything I have said and done this past week has been him, not me."

Beast Boy looked doubtful and looked over at Raven for some sign of conformation from her. She just nodded. He looked back at Robin who seemed genuinely sorry.

"Look Beast Boy, I'm sorry if the things you thought I said hurt you, but you have to know that I don't think that about you. You're a very valuable member of this team, and your fighting has drastically improved over the past couple months. So, do you forgive me?"

Beast Boy took a couple seconds to answer. He didn't doubt Robin for a second, but it was still tough to forgive someone after they said such terrible things to you, even if it wasn't really him. He finally heaved a big sigh and said, "Of course I forgive Robin, but how did you break free from his control?"

"You can thank Raven for that. She sent her spirit self into my body and drove Slade out."

"Way to go Raven!" exclaimed Beast Boy and she had trouble suppressing the smile that came to her when he said that.

"It was no problem, I'm just glad Robin is back." She said in her trademark, almost bored voice.

"Hey Beast Boy, what were you going to say before I cut you off?" asked Robin with a large smile on his face. "I thought I heard you say I was all over your something. I didn't catch the last part."

"uhh I can't remember." Said Beast Boy quickly. "You know, caught up in the moment and all that stuff?"

"Well I could have sworn you were going to say I was all over your gi-"

and just as Robin was finally about to get the two to admit they liked each other, the alarm started to blare and Robin hobbled over to the super computer. It took a few seconds for him to grasp just how serious the situation was. "Robin, what's wrong?" Asked Raven,voice filled with worry. If Robin wasn't talking, it had to be bad.

"Over 3000 Slade bots have been released into the metro area of Jump City. Mad Mod, Adonis, Cinderblock, Mumbo, Overload, and Professor Chang all have the Mayor and the chief of police in captivity over at city hall. They are threatening to kill both of them unless the Titans leave town in the next 24 hours."

Beast Boy and Raven both stood completely still with their mouths wide open. Things had been bad in Jump City before, but this was one of the worst situations they had ever been in. Only the incident with Trigon was worse than this was. Three of the Titans were unable to fight and they only had one day to free possibly the two most powerful and influential people in Jump City from most of the villains that occupy their city.

"What's the plan?" asked Beast Boy.

"You and Raven are the only two who can actually fight right now, so go to city hall and report to me when you get there. If you see any Slade bots on the way, take them out. We need to get rid of as many of them as we can."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to see if I can fix Cyborg, but first, I have a really awkward conversation waiting for me down the hall. Titans Go!"

Beast Boy gave Robin a quizzical look, he obviously didn't know about Starfire. But that only lasted a second, then he and Raven both Ran out the door. Robin could see the green teen turning into a cheetah as he rounded a corner and ran out of sight.

Robin sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He was glad to finally be back in his home. But these were hardly the circumstances he would have liked to return to, nevertheless he had to talk to Starfire sooner or later.

"And now," he figured, "Is as good a time as any."

He then turned and started to walk slowly down the hall to the room where the love of his life was, most likely crying her heart out, and wishing that he were dead.

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He reached the door and gave a couple knocks, "Raven?" came the reply from inside.

"No Star, its Robin."

This statement caused the voice to go silent, "Can I come in? There are some things I want to talk to you about."

Again, no reply.

"Well I'm coming in Star." And with that he opened the door and slowly walked into the room.

All the lights were shut off and the blinds were drawn, so it was very dark inside. Robin groped blindly in the room until his foot came in contact with something hard and he fell over. He got up with his toe throbbing and he said, "Star, do you think you could turn on a light? I'm having a little trouble seeing in here."

In response to his request Starfire threw a starbolt at him from the bed, and he had to fall to the floor to dodge it. "Well, at least I know she's angry." Thought Robin to himself. He stood up again and felt his way over to her bed, praying the whole time that Starfire didn't decide to shoot another bolt of energy at him. Once he reached the bed Robin sat down on it and started talking, "Look Starfire, I really don't know how I'm going to explain this, so I'll just start at the beginning. That wasn't me you spent the night with, it was….someone else."

"That will not work Robin, I know that it was you I spent the night with." came a muffled voice from underneath the sheets.

"Well Star, it was and it wasn't me."

Starfire poked her head out from underneath the covers and looked at him inquisitively. "What do you mean, It was you but it was not you?"

This was the part Robin was dreading. He knew it would lead to awkward questions and possibly physical pain for him if Starfire really was in a bad mood. But honesty was Robin's policy, and he continued, "Well Star, I haven't been in control of my body for the past week. Someone else has."

"And who is this someone else?"

Robin even considered lying for a moment. Anything seemed better than telling Starfire the truth. But he couldn't lie to the girl he loved, so he decided to grin and bear it.

'Well Star, the person who was in control of my body was……Slade." He winced and closed his eyes automatically expecting some piece of furniture to be hurled at him at high speeds, or at least for Starfire to start screaming and ranting, but neither of these things happened. So he opened his eyes and looked at Starfire. He was expecting anger. He was expecting Rage. He was expecting disgust. But he certainly wasn't expecting Starfire to have a look of pity on her face.

"Oh Robin, for you I am most sorry. Being of prisoner of that evil man while being in your own body must have been terrible."

The she too leaned over and embraced Robin, who gladly returned the gesture.

"But I must ask," she whispered into his ear, "Do you love me Robin?"

"Of course I do Starfire! I love you with all my heart, I can't live without you. The two weeks I spent in Slade's captivity were the two worst weeks of my life, not because I was tortured, but because I was away from you."

"Oh Robin, do you really mean that?"

"With all my heart."

"Then I love you too Robin."

The Boy Wonder leaned in to kiss the girl he loved but was stopped by her finger on his outstretched lips.

"Starfire, what's wrong?"

"Robin, although I do love you from the bottom of both my hearts, I need some time."

"Some time for what?"

"This is not an easy experience to put in the region behind me Robin, and until I can do that, I fear we may need some time apart from each other."

Robin was disappointed, but he understood. She was wasn't seomthing you could forget about overnight.

"Ok Star, I can wait."

"Thank you Robin, thank you so very much."

Robin smiled and headed for the door. He stopped and turned back after a couple steps,Now he was all buisness.

" Beast Boy and Raven will be in the city fighting Slade bots. He's released over 3000 of them in the city. I need you to join them as soon as you can."

"Of course Robin."

"Oh, and one last thing."

"Yes?"

"Why were you so willing to sleep with me? We had talked about this when we first started dating, and you said you wanted to wait until both of us, and our relationship had matured."

Now it was Starfire's turn to deliver awkward news, "Well Robin while you were gone Red-X assisted us in extracting the Zinothium from my body, and gave us insight on how to fight Slade."

"So that's what happened to the good cutlery. Alfred is going to kill me if he ever finds out." Thought RObin moodily. But instead of voicing his thoughts he just said, "Yes. What about X?"

"Well one day we had returned from battling Cinderblock, and the other had retreated to their rooms to be alone, so I was left alone in the common room."

"Yes." Said Robin, who had a pretty good idea where this story was going, no matter how much he didn't like it.

"Well Red-X joined me on the sofa, where he seduced me, and convinced me you were gone. He then presented himself as a suitable replacement for you, and then he took off his mask and he……."

"Continue Starfire." Said Robin forcefully.

Starfire hesitated for a few seconds, before she said quickly in a very small voice, "And he kissed me."

"HE DID WHAT??? THAT THEIF! IT'S NOT ENOUGH HE STEALS MY TECHNOLOGY AND WAYNE FAMILY HEIRLOOMS BUT HE STEALS MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"Please Robin, remain calm. I immediately withdrew from the lip contact and yelled at X for doing such a terrible thing. But ever since I have been carrying guilt, about not being faithful to you. So when the opportunity to prove my faithfulness to you presented itself, I took it. Rather foolishly I'm afraid."

"You weren't foolish Star, and don't worry, I forgive you. As for Red-X, next time I see him I'm not going to be held accountable for my actions. i'll See you in the common room as soon as you are ready."

Robin left the room and headed back down the hall. His communicator rang and he opened it up. Raven was staring at him and he asked the vital question,

"Is it as bad as I described?" "No Robin." She replied,

"It's worse."

Author's note:

Well, now that damage control is out of the way (mostly, we still have Cyborg to deal with.) I can start getting to the action!

Anyone who couldn't tell I was being sarcastic about those reviews at the top of the page, you have no sense of humor. I'm sorry, it's the truth.

And anyone who complains that Starfire is being too harsh when she asks for space let me ask you this: If you spent an intamite night with the person you love, only to find out that you really spent the night with the most despicable person you know, wouldn't you want some space?

The answer is yes, yes Suck It Trebeck. You have so much infinite wisdom and I can learn so much from everything you say. And By the Way I will review this chapter because I know how much you like reviews. Especially long ones that really dissect the many parts of your writing and grammar. I'm only doing this beacuse you are so brilliant with words.

Thats what your all saying? right? right?


	19. Rescue

Chapter 19.

"How could it possibly be any worse?"

"Well Robin, these aren't ordinary Slade bots. These have some serious upgrades."

"Like what?"

"Well they seem to be able to teleport now, and they have some sort of armor that Beast Boy can't bite through."

"What about the hostages?"

"We haven't gotten there yet. Were still fighting the first Slade bots we ran into."

Robin sighed, his was not a good way to start the attack on city hall. He racked his brain for a solution to this problem. If they couldn't even get past the Slade bots they had no chance of fighting most of the villains in Jump something clicked, Slade had been sloppy and hadn't thought of everything. Even though while Robin's body roamed around in Slade's lair, his mind still saw everything his eyes did. And Slade had just happened to leave the blueprints of his new robots out on one of the various worktables that occupied the villain's hideout.

"Raven tell Beast Boy to get behind the bots, and bite the small of the robots back. Slade installed the technology to make teleportation possible, but he had to sacrifice armor thickness to do it. That's the only weak point on those things."

"'Alright Robin, I hope your right." She repeated Robin's instructions to the changeling and he leapt into action. He jumped over the bus the two heroes had taken cover behind and turned into a twelve-foot long alligator. He used his enormous jaws to bite through the weaker metal in the back of the nearest robot, and got immediate results. The Slade bot fell over and started to spark, its inner workings now fully exposed. After a few seconds of emitting sparks the power went off and the bot was completely useless.

"Oh Yeah! I'm the Greatest!!!" could be heard in the background as Beast Boy celebrated his victory over the troublesome robot and Raven said into the communicator, "It looks like we have things all worked out here. I'll contact you again once we get to city hall."

The screen went black and Robin shut the communicator. He walked down the rest of the hall back to the common room. Once inside he approached Cyborg, who was now putting his Gamestation into the blender along with frozen yogurt, and motor oil.

"Hey Rob! Want a smoothie?"

"No Cy, I'm alright." Said Robin as he slipped behind his large teammate.

"Your loss." Said Cyborg as he leaned over to turn the blender on.

Robin seized the opportunity to reach up to Cyborg's neck, and pull out his neural interface. Immediately Cyborg's normally blue parts of his body turned gray as his body performed an emergency shutdown. Cyborg slumped over on the counter and Robin patted his back sympathetically, "I'm sorry Cy,I didn't want to do this, but I couldn't see any other option."

Starfire floated in the room fully dressed and ready to fight. She looked over at the kitchen and gasped with dismay, "Robin! What has happened to friend Cyborg? Has Slade shut him off?!"

"No Star, I did."

"But Why?"

"Cyborg has a virus in him, a pretty bad one too. No one on the Titans knows enough about him systems to fix him, only one person does."

"Who?"

"His father. I'm going to have to ship him to his dad with an explanation. But don't worry Starfire, if anyone can fix Cyborg, it's Dr. Stone." Starfire nodded. Although she was still concerned about her friend, now was not the time for worrying.

"Shall I leave to join Raven and Beast Boy?"

"Not yet Star, lets wait until they get to city hall."

So they waited, and to pass the time Robin regaled the whole story of what Slade had made him do while under his control. Starfire was shocked, frightened, and appalled when necessary, and Robin felt better getting the burden off his chest. He was especially glad to have someone like Starfire to comfort him during this difficult time. Even though he knew it wasn't his fault he still carried guilt about the deaths of the people his body had killed, and talking to her halped him get past the burdening guilt. After about thirty minutes Robin's communicator went off and he responded. This time it was Beast Boy talking to him,

"Hey Rob, we finally got to City Hall. We must have gotten rid of about half of those new robots Slade has. They were all over the place! Raven did most of it though! She found out that once you take the teleport thingy out of the robot, all the others automatically teleport to it. Then she just blasted them with black energy! We must have gotten rid of 50 at one time!"

"That's great Beast Boy, Starfire and I will be joining you at city hall shortly."

"Are you sure you can fight?" asked Beast Boy. He had seen the damage Slade had done to the young hero and was doubtful about his condition.

"I'll be alright. Just take care of yourself out there. Robin out." Robin flipped his communicator closed and looked over at Starfire.

She stared at Robin forcefully, "You are in no condition to fight Robin. I cannot allow you to go to City Hall."

"Normally I would agree with you Star, but the Titans have been missing their leader for half a month. It's about time I got back in the fight."

"But you will be beaten and hurt and I would feel respondsi-"

"Starfire! Don't worry. Right now it doesn't matter if I get hurt. What matter is that the Titans have their leader, I need to be out there."

Starfire took a second to consider this, and nodded. "You are correct Robin, but as soon as you feel you can no longer fight, remove yourself. The other Titans shall be alright without you for a short while."

Robin smiled and nodded, then the two ran down the hall. Robin to the garage and Starfire out the hall window, the two made their way to city hall, destroying Slade's robots as they went. Once they arrived at city hall they found Beast Boy and Raven standing on a rooftop across the street. Robin parked his R-cycle and Starfire flew him up to join his teammates.

"What's the situation?"

"The bad guys have the mayor and chief in the mayor's office." Answered Beast Boy, "The office is in the back of the building."

"Raven could you teleport us in there?"

"Into the middle of 10 villains all hungry for blood and out to get us? Sure, sounds like a great idea."

"Then do it." Raven sighed and enveloped the rest of the team in black energy and they teleported into the back of the office. Luckily all the villains were facing the door, expecting and attack from the front. So the Titans had a moment to assess the situation. Cinderblock and Adonis were standing in front,furthest from the Titans. Being the two strongest they were forced to be the first line of defense. Professor Chang and Mad Mod were behind them, Chang gripped his Zinothium laser tightly and Mod twirled his cane nervously. Mumbo had the two men tied up and was showing them card tricks with his back turned to the Titans.

"Were lucky." Thought Robin who started whispering hushed orders to his teammates,

" Beast Boy, take Adonis. You know how to deal with him. Starfire, take out Chang, with that laser he could so some serious damage. I'll take mod, he's not a very good hand to hand fighter, but if he hypnotizes us, were done. Raven, take mumbo and release the prisoners."

"With pleasure." Said Raven with a smirk of satisfaction. She hadn't forgotten the time Mumbo had turned her into a Rabbit, nor would she anytime soon.

"Titans Go!" yelled Robin and all four of them leapt at their opponents. Starfire was fastest to her enemy and with a grunt of exertion she threw Starbolt after Starbolt at the small Asian scientist turned criminal. He was out for the count in a matter of seconds and Starfire was sure to destroy his laser so no one else could pick it up. Robin dealt with mod in a similar fashion, leaping at the British hypnotist and knocking his cane out of his hands. Mod gave a small gasp of surprise before Robin hit him squarely in between the eyes and knocking the small man unconscious.

Raven flew to the blue showman with her fingertips crackling with black energy, "Hey Mumbo! How would you like to see some real magic?" yelled the empath before throwing the mayor's desk at his head. Mumbo managed to dodge the incoming piece of furniture and shot a line of playing cards at Raven. She put up a shield of energy and as soon as Mumbo ran out of cards she simply used her energy to remove Mumbo's hat from his balding head.

"NOOOO!!!" yelled the magician as he watched his sole power source fly into the hands of the gray skinned teenager. Raven took the hat and ripped it in two, watching multitudes of rubber ducks, rabbits, scarves, and plastic flowers fall from the inner depths of the hat to the floor. It was then a simple matter to enclose the annoying showman in black energy and teleport him back to his cushy jail cell.

Adonis was proving to be much more difficult. He had been the furthest away from the Titans when they launched their attack, so he had the most time to prepare, and prepare he did. He boosted his suit's output to 100% and upped all the accelerometers. His suit couldn't hold out that kind of demanding performance for long, but as he figured, this fight would be over in a matter of seconds. But he hadn't counted on a very angry Beast Boy flying at him in the form of a sabertooth tiger. Beast Boy slashed, ripped and, bit at the metal encased criminal, but Adonis was equal to him every step of the way. He parried every swipe of a paw, and had a punch for every bite Beast Boy threw at him. The two were a perfect match, the only problem was Beast Boy could keep up his performance, Adonis couldn't.

After ten more seconds of frenzied fighting Raven joined Beast Boy and together the two fought him until his suit could do no more, and started to smoke and get very hot. "C'mon! only a couple more seconds!" though Adonis to himself, but no luck. The suit started to fall apart and he had no choice but to lower the output of his suit. And as soon as he did that the two Titans were all over him. Beast Boy slashed his suit multiple times and Raven delivered the final blow with a large burst of energy straight into the exposed wires of Adonis's suit. He fell over and hit the ground with a dull "THUD"

Knocked out and inside a broken suit, Adonis was finished.

Starfire and Robin were having more trouble with Cinderblock. In his weakened condition there was only so much Robin could do, so Starfire was doing most of the work. She hurled Starbolts and delivered mighty blows to the large villain, but it wasn't enough. He stood standing.

"ROBIN, WE CANNOT DEFEAT CINDERBLOCK BY USING BRUTE STRENGTH!" yelled Starfire while dodging Cinderblocks flailing punches.

"She's right, we need strategy." Thought Robin who backed up for a better view of the situation. He watched Starfire fight the huge foe for a couple seconds before he noticed that every time that Cinderblock would throw a punch he would shift his weight very far forward, making himself off balance.

"STARFIRE! WHEN HE THROWS A PUNCH AT YOU GRAB AHOLD OF HIS ARM AND PULL HIM DOWN!!" yelled Robin to his teammate. She nodded and did as she was instructed, pulling the off-balance giant to the ground. Once he had fallen the four Titans were on top of him delivering blows and controlling the large foe. Once Robin was saisfied he was subdued he looked over at Raven and asked, "What happened to Overload? The report said he was here too."

"We saw him leave as soon as Beast Boy and I arrived. I have no idea where he went though."

"I know where he went, back to Slade." Said Robin bitterly. "And so will I."

Slade was furious. Not only had almost all of his newly designed robots been destroyed, but the fact overload had returned to him meant that the Titans had arrived. As soon as he had gotten the word from the huge electrical monster he had switched the monitors to the security footage of the mayor's office, and was revolted at what he saw. The other five villains he had left behind to apprehend the Titans had all been defeated!

"This is the last time I include other people in my plans!" said Slade angrily. But once again, he had to give Robin credit. He had managed to resurrect most of the Titans, and they worked like they had never been sabotaged. Slade took a little pride to see that Robin was not at his best, "Well Robin you were able to stall some of my plans, not that it matters anymore. It appears that I am just going to have to take care of the Titans myself."

He turned around with the intention of leaving his lair in search of the Titans but instead found Robin's fist only inches away from his face. Robin's strike connected, causing Slade to cartwheel backwards and slide a couple feet on the smooth metal floor of his home.

"So Robin... It Begins."

Authors Note:

So here we are! nearly at the end! I am sorry to say that Cyborg will not be making anymore appearances in this story, but hey, thats life for you!

So I only have two more chapters left, and then this story is done! So you only have this, and then two more times to write reviews!!! time is running out folks! better get them in while you can! I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed my last couple chapters, guess what guys? You rock.

Also it should be noted that I start school on the 17th of August, so after this story is done I will not be writing another one for quite some time. Probably until next summer (Yes, I know your all devastated) But I will have a whole year to plan my next one! so expect it to be good!

Peace.


	20. Showdown

Chapter 20.

**City hall; Twenty minutes ago:**

Robin stared back at the shocked faces on the other members of his team.

"You… can't be serious." Said Raven in disbelief, "Robin, if you go fight Slade right now, in your present condition, your not going to… Well What I mean is that Slade is… Your not going to have a…"

"Slade will kill you." Beast Boy interjected, saying what Raven couldn't.

Robin took a long hard look at the rest of his team, then cast his gaze towards the ground.

"I know. Even when I'm in my prime, I can't beat Slade. I'm not stong enough, and I don't stand a chance. But this the way its supposed to be. Me versus him. One final showdown. Either we win and the city is saved, or he wins, and we all fall in chaos."

"Robin, perhaps strength isn't what you need to use in order to win this battle. Just like with Cinderblock, wouldn't strategy be preferable?"

"Of course it would Star, but Slade has no weaknesses."

"Oh Robin," said Starfire with a smug grin starting to form at the corners of her mouth, "I would not say that."

**Slade's Lair; Present:**

"What is this? No Titans to back you up today Robin?"

"No Slade, this is just you and me, the way it was meant to be."

"Very well, as you wish. But please Robin, don't rhyme."

Slade began to run towards Robin at an almost leisurely pace, "This is going to be too easy. How could Robin possibly beat me?" He thought smugly to himself. The Boy Wonder was not at full strength, and Slade almost considered going easy on the hero, but decided against it, "Why should I show mercy? I haven't had fun in quite some time."

Once he reached Robin Slade brought his curled hand back for a mighty punch. His fist connected with Robin's chest and sent the smaller super-athlete soaring backwards until he collided with the wall behind him. Slade then ran towards The Titans leader, and in a second was all over him, throwing punch after punch,and sending kick after kick at Robin. To his credit Robin managed to block some of Slade's attacks, but the onslaught was too much, and he was backed into a corner. Robin could feel his senses starting to fade, black formed in the corners of his eyes, and he forced himself to hold on. Slade had driven Robin down to his knees and was repeatadley connecting his foot with Robin's face. Blood was now pouring profusely from his nose, ears, and a large gash that ran the whole length of his forehead. Robin appeared to be wearing a red mask over his whole face.

"Tell me Robin, how does it feel to know you are completely beat? How does it feel to be on the brink of death?" he yelled as he continued his merciless attack on the young hero.

"About as good as it feels knowing that you're a loveless rat, incapable of even the most simple emotions." Robin managed to sputter through the blood that was flowing over his nose and mouth.

Slade paused with both his fists in mid-air, "What did you just say?"

"You heard me Slade, I bet your wife was happy when she died, at least she got to spend some time away from you."

Slade was paralyzed by rage, and in this momentary break of fighting Robin got up and wiped the blood off his face with his forearm. "How does **that **make you feel Slade? Knowing no one ever loved you, and no one ever will?"

"**AAARRRGH!!"** yelled Slade as he once again began to attack his small foe, but this time was different. Now it wasn't Slade's brain fueling his attack on Robin, it was his emotions. All the technique was gone, replaced by blind rage and power. Robin was able to easily block all of Slade's clumsy attacks, and began some of his own, degrading Slade the whole time.

"I think your just a sad, lonely, and cold man whose sole desire is for someone to care for him."

Robin rasied the force and amount of his attacks, and was now driving Slade backwards. Past a work table with blueprints, past a wooden table with torture devices on it.

"So the mighty villain of Jump City's sole purpose in life, is to find a single person who cares about him. Congratulations Slade, your striving to attain something every two year old in this world possess."

"YOU USELESS WORM! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT I WANT!!!" Slade was beginning to tire, his attacks weren't working, and Robin was only making him angrier. He renewed his focus on killing Robin, and shut out everything else. He didn't even notice when Robin back him through a doorway, into a room with a cot, sink, toliet, and broken T.V moitor in the corner.

"Goodbye Slade, hope you find a soulmate." Said Robin, who with a victorious smile on his face pushed the button to close the door to the cell he himself had been imprisoned in, two long weeks ago.

"NOOOOO!!!!!" screamed Slade who pounded his hands against the steel door that had closed in front of him. "ROBIN! YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS!!"

But Robin wasn't listening, he was already on his way to the control panel. Once he arrived he scanned the many buttons and switches until his eyes found the control he desired. He reached down and pressed a black and yellow button labeled, "Release Neural Insulating Vapor." He smiled as he heard the gas go into the small cell, and grimaced as he felt his mind meld with Slade's. The experience was not pleasent, and Robin found that his energry was leaveing him very quickly. Nevertheless he soon gained control of the mercenary's body, and promptly walked Slade over to the control panel he was standing at. He made Slade flick the various switches and relays to override the power conduits controlling the lair's vast amount of electronic equipment. Simply put, everything was going to explode, and the cave's roof was going to fall in.

"But before your home self destructs," said Robin through Slade's mouth, an experience he would never forget. Speaking in Slade's voice was like hearing yourself on a tape recording. It was different, but somehow seemed right. "I'm going to torture you, see how you like it."

He walked Slade over to wooden table with the various items of torture, and selected an electric carving knife. He switched it on and if began to whir and move back and forth. He heard Slade's panicked cries inside his own head, "_ROBIN! PLEASE DON'T! I'LL DO ANYTHING JUST PLEASE DON"T DO THIS!!" _Robin ingnored the pleas and raised the knife high in the air. He saw the blade glint a little off one of the lights attached to the roof of the cave, and brought the large silver blade on Slade's other wrist, cutting off his left hand in a matter of seconds.

"That was for Cyborg." Said Robin through gritted teeth, as the pain was almost unbearable. But he could console himself with the fact it wouldn't last long. He brought the knife down again and cut off Slade's left arm at the elbow, "For Beast Boy!" And finally, he took the knife and forced it through the rough and sturdy tendons at Slade's left knee, "AND FOR STARFIRE!!" He yelled as the pain became too great, and he was forced to break the connection.

Slade yelled in agony and fell to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain as the feeling came back to his broken body, the bloody knife still whirring in his right hand.

Robin heard noises coming from behind him and turned around to see his team running in the entrance into Slade's lair.

"ROBIN!!" yelled Starfire who swooped up behind the Boy Wonder and put a hand on his shoulder, followed closely by Raven and Beast Boy "Is everything alright?"

"Go see for yourself." Said Robin, who gestured over to Slade's bloody body. Starfire swooped over and took a look down at the mangled villain. "Why are you guys here? This was between me and him!" hissed Robin to Beast Boy and Raven.

"We needed to know that you were alright! I don't care how big your ego is Robin, you're never alone." Robin smiled at Raven, who nodded back in response.

Starfire had been examining Slade's broken body for a half a minute now, and finally spoke up, "I am almost pitying him right now. He looks so different, so much we-"

**"BAM!!!!!"**

A deafaning explosion sounded, the timer had run out on all of Slade's electrical equipment, causing it to be blown up in unison.

"RAVEN, PUT UP A PROTECTIVE SHIELD!!" yelled Robin who saw the lines in the roof of the cave start to form. Large chunks started to crumble from the roof, and a piece the size of a desktop Computer almost fell on RObin. "STARFIRE, GET OVER HERE!!" yelled Robin as loud as he possibly could, but it was too late. She was floating over by Slade, and was too far away.

"ROBIN, I NEED TO PUT UP THIS SHIELD NOW!" yelled Raven, who formed a protective dome over the three Titans. The last thing Robin saw before the black energy blocked out his field of vision was Starfire reaching towards him, and a large piece of the cave's roof falling directly over her head.

Author's note:

Dun Dun Duh!!!!!!!!!! The suspense!! I guess your going to have to read the next chapter to find out what happens.  
Sorry about that. :D


	21. Sacrifice

Last Chapter.

The rubble had fallen, the dust had cleared, and the entire roof of Slade's cave had collapsed, exposing the madman's lair to the rain that had just started to fall. Raven retracted her shield exposing two figures shrouded by dust. One was lying on the ground, the other was mostly underneath a large pile of rock. The dust cleared to reveal only Starfire picking herslef up of the hard metal floor, and Slade, barely visible underneath the debris. His head was the only part of his body Robin could see. Once Starfire picked herself up off the floor and brushed the dust off her outfit she stared at the other Titans in disbelief.

"Starfire, wha- what happend?" asked Robin in disbelief. He was sure that Starfire was dead, and was more relieved that words could describe now that he knew she was alive and well.

"He saved me. The rock was about to fall on me, and he pushed me out of the way." Said Starfire quietly, "Why would he do such a thing?"

"I don't know Star. It doesn't make any sense." Replied Robin simply.

"Why don't you ask him yourself." Said Beast Boy, who's arm was extended in the direction of the pile of debris Slade was under.

The other Titans looked over at the pile of rubble and were all surprised to see Slade's head moving ever so slightly. Robin ran up to the mercenary, crouched down and put his face about a foot away from the exposed head of Slade. "WHY DID YOU SAVE STARFIRE? AFTER EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE, AFTER NEARLY TEARING THIS TEAM APART!! WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO SAVE HER NOW?"

Slade's head slowly rotated to face the Boy Wonder, and he replied in the weakest voice Robin would ever hear from him, he could barely hear Slade's voice over the pinging noise the rain was making on his metal mask.

"I've seen and done things you Titans can't ever imagine. I've killed, tortured, extorted, victimized, used, and disposed of countless innocent souls in my life. I've been to every country in every continent of the world. I've been to the beyond and seen the depths of hell, and the face of the devil himself. I have seen the filth of greed and jealousy. I have thrown myself into hatred, made it occupy every moment of my being." He paused and made a slight gurgling noise, then continued, "When you were torturing me, I knew it was the end. I can take a beating Robin, but nothing like what you did to me. I only have so much blood to lose. And as I layed there, broken and at the threshold of death, the memories of my life as a criminal weren't what I thought of, rather memories of love are what consumed me. In my life I have known the pleasure of family, the joy of loving and being loved. I think of picnics with my family, a goodnight kiss from my wife, the laughter of my son. Those are the times in my life that are most precious to me." His eye switched focus. And he went from looking at Robin, to the clouds and downpour coming from above him, "But when I'm gone, all those moments will disappear into time. Like tears... in rain."

Slade let out a groan of pain and his eye began to glaze over. "So I had a choice to make, I could either die broken and disgraced, or die with honor, to save another. That's why I saved Starfire, even if I hadn't pushed her out of the way of certain death, my time here on this earth is limited" Robin looked at Slade doubtfully, and Slade continued. "Don't you see Robin?There are far too many hate filled moments, and people in this world. And If Starfire had been killed, you would have spent the rest of your life filled with the same hatred that consumed me. And we both deserve better than that, or at least I used to, long before I ever knew you."

Slade coughed weakly and his voice became more strained, "It's too late for me Robin, I am going to leave this life as a cold and lonely man. But it's not too late for you. Live a life without hatred. Do that and this world will be a much better place, and life will be your own reward." He gave one raspy, weak, sputtering cough.

"Now, *cough* *cough* if you will excuse me, it's time to die."

His eye lost its focus and his head slowly tilted backwards until he was facing straight up. Facing into the sky and into the rain.

Slade was dead.

Robin had no idea how to re-act. The single man who had made his life miserable this past month, and had made his time in Jump City a near constant struggle was dead. He knew he should have been thrilled, but he wasn't. Slade had died while partaking in a completely selfless act, an act that had ensured Robin's happiness for the rest of his life. Robin wanted with all his heart to be happy at Slade's demise, but he wasn't. So he decided that leaving was the best course of action. But as Robin got up something troubled him, hecouldn't just leave the man who had saved the love of his life like this. So he bent over and took off the mask of the man he had hated for so long. He reached down, and with two fingers, closed Slade's eye for the last time. He put the mask back on and walked over to his friends. He took Starfire's hand and looked around at the other Titans who were watching him intently. With a nod he led Starfire and the rest of the Titans out of the partially collapsed cave that was once Slade's lair and headed back to Titans Tower. As they walked out of the crater than used to be Slade's lair, Robin took one look back at the pile of rubble that was once Slade's home, and made a promise to his now dead foe, "I'll live a life of love Slade, I think I owe you that much."

He turned around and re-joined his friends, ready to embrace the rest of his life with the people he loved. He could thank Slade for that.

Authors Note:

It. Is. Finished! My first Fanfic is officially done!!! how about that? Now is that last chance for all you hold outs to review, and I would like to thank everyone who did read and review. Your input was what kept me going on to finish this story. Go you guys! And please tell me what your favorite chapter was (Personally I like 6 and 21 the best). I'm just curious to see what yous liked! Thank you, and Goodnight! (or day, pertaining to what time of the day you happen to finish my story.)

Peace.


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